^KRYOFPR/ScfJg^ 


^^06/CALSEVA\^ 


'-oiton,  Cal 


Genius  and'l-:  '^^^-^557. 
Protestant 


n^^ssion  of  the 
Episcopal 


Chu 


rc 


THE 


GENIUS  AND  MISSION 


OP   THE 


PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


IN  THE 


UNITED   STATES. 


BY  REV.  CALVIN^COLTON,  L.L.D., 

PROFESSOR   OF   PUBLIC    ECONOMY,    TRINITY    COLLEGE,    AUTHOR   OF 
"REASONS    FOR   EPISCOPACY,"   ETC.,    ETC. 


NEW    YORK: 

STANFORD    &    SWORDS. 
137    BROADWAY. 

1853. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1853,  by 

CALVIN    COLTON, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Coui-t  of  the  United  States,  for 
the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
STEREOTYPED  BT  GEORGE  CHARLES, 

No.  9  Sansom  Street. 


TO  \ 

THE  RIGHT  REVERE'ND 

THOMAS  CHURCH  BROWNELL,  D.D.,  L.L.D., 

BISHOP  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 

OF  THE 

state  of  connecticut. 

Right  Reverend  Sir, 

Although  you  are  necessarily  unac- 
quainted witli  the  manner  in  which  I  have  treated 
the  subject  of  this  work,  I  hope  you  will  find 
nothing  in  it  to  give  you  serious  concern.  It 
would  be  more  than  I  could  expect,  if  you  should 
find  nothing  to  criticise.  As  the  conception  of  the 
work  was  entirely  my  own,  I  could  only  execute 
it  in  the  shapes  in  which  it  presented  itself  to  my 
mind.  I  have  desired  the  honor  of  dedicating  it 
to  you,  not  only  from  the  great  respect  and  sin- 
cere esteem  I  entertain  for  your  character,  but 
from  your  eminent  position  as  Presiding  Bishop 
of  the  American  Church.  Hoping  that  it  will 
do  no  harm,  and  that  it  may  do  some  good,  I 
submit  it  to  your  generous  consideration,  as  well 
as  to    that  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  public. 

With    great    regard    and    affection,    I    have    the 
honor.  Right  Reverend  Sir, 

To  subscribe  myself  your  friend, 
And  obedient  servant, 

C.  COLTON. 

New  York,  March  15,  1853. 

(3) 


CnuientH. 


CHAPTER  I.  PAOB 

Definitions, 7 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Genius  of  Christianity, 12 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Genius  of  the  Primitive  Church, 24 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Geniua  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 31 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Genius  of  the  Reformation, 68 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Genius  of  the  Church  of  England, 115 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Genius  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  as  shown 
in  the  History  of  her  Organization, 145 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Genius  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  as  shown 
in  the  Title  she  has  adopted,  and  in  her  Republican 
character, 1G5 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Genius  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  as  shown 
in  the  shapes  and  practical  operation  of  her  authority,  179 
1*  (5) 


6 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  X.  PAOB 
The  Genius  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  as  illus- 
trated in  her  attachment  to  Episcopacy 187 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Genius  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  as  illus- 
trated in  her  attachment  to  Liturgical  Services,       .     .  195 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Genius  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  as  exem- 
plified in  her  spirit  of  accommodation  to   the  Genius     - 
of  the  American  people, 209 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Novelties  recently  introduced  into  portions  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  as  they  affect  her  Genius, 
her  Prospects,  and  the  Simplicity  and  Uniformity  of 
her  Worship, 219 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
An  American  Churchman, 250 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Low  Church  and  High  Church ;  Low  Churchmen  and 
High  Churchmen, 255 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Relation  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  to  other 
religious  bodies,  and  the  course  which  her  Genius  pre- 
scribes in  the  case, 269 

CHAPTER  XVn. 

Tlie  importance  of  the  Laity  as  a  corporate  element  and 
co-ordinate  power  of  the  American  Episcopal  Chui-ch, 
and  the  effect  of  this  Relation  on  her  Genius  and 
Mission, 278 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  Mission  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,    .     .    .  291 


THE  GENIUS  AND  MISSION 


PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 


DEFINITIONS. 


The  sense  in  which  the  term  genius  is  used  in  this 
•work,  is  different  from  that  indicated  in  its  applica- 
tion to  denote  the  superior  natural  endowments  of 
an  individual.  All  the  peculiar  attributes  of  nations, 
communities,  governments^  and  societies  of  whatever 
description,  represent  the  genius  of  these  bodies  re- 
spectively, in  distinction  from  others  of  the  same 
class.  There  is  the  peculiar  genius  of  the  Americans, 
of  the  English,  of  the  French,  and  of  all  other  na- 
tions. There  is  the  genius  of  monarchy,  and  the 
genius  of  republicanism  ;  and  the  genius  of  one  mo- 
narchy in  distinction  from  that  of  another.  Nominal 
republics  are  not  alike,  and  they  may  be  radically 
and  fundamentally  different ;  as  for  example,  the  re- 
public of  the  United  States,  and  that  lately  set  up 
in  France — so  soon  transformed  into  an  empire.     It 

0) 


8  DEFINITIONS. 

arises  principally  from  the  difference  in  the  genius 
of  the  two  nations. 

In  the  same  manner,  we  find  a  difference  in  the 
genius  of  all  the  religions  found  in  the  world,  as  in 
that  of  Christianity  as  compared  with  that  of  Moham- 
medism,  and  in  these  two  as  compared  with  all  others. 
Then  again  in  the  different  branches  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  in  the  different  sects,  we  find  a  genius 
peculiar  to  each,  and  usually  distinctly  marked. 
These  differences  of  character  lead  to  different  re- 
sults, in  the  operation  of  every  form  of  religion  on 
the  public  mind.  This  is  the  sense  in  which  the  term 
genius  is  used  in  this  work. 

As  we  must  necessarily  have  much  to  do  with 
Church 2Jolity mih.(i  progress  of  this  work,  it  maybe 
well  in  the  outset  to  define  it.  By  polity  we  mean 
ecclesiastical  adaptations,  and  not  Divine  organi- 
zation. 

The  polity  of  a  Church  is  precisely  the  same  thing 
to  a  commonwealth  of  Christians,  who  have  adopted 
it,  and  who  are  regulated  by  it,  as  the  constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States  are  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States  ;  or  as  the  constitution  and  laws 
of  any  state  are  to  the  people  of  that  state.  The 
constitution  and  canons  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  constitute  her  polity ;  and  the  constitutions 
and  canons  of  the  several  tlioceses  of  the  Church, 
occupy  the  same  position  in  relation  to  the  constitu- 
tion and  canons  of  the  whole  Church,  as  do  the  con- 
stitutions and  laws  of  the  several  states  of  the 
American  Union,  to  the  Federal   constitution  and 


DEFINITIONS. 


laws.  There  is,  therefore,  a  general  polity  for  the 
■whole  Church,  and  a  diocesan  polity  for  each  diocese. 
The  sum  of  the  whole  constitutes  the  polity  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church ;  though  it  is  the  general 
polity  with  which  we  shall  have  chiefly  to  do. 

When  it  is  said,  the  Church  orders  or  directs  so  and 
so,  authority  is  implied.     Is  that  authority  tangible 
or  intangible  ?     If  tangible,  it  can  be  specified,   so 
that  one  can  see  where  and  what  it  is.     "We  cannot 
appreciate  authority  which  does  not  present  itself  in 
palpable  forms.     In  the  first  place,  then,  so  far  as 
our   present  subject  is  concerned,  authority  is  based 
on  religion,  and  addresses  itself  to  conscience.     The 
authority  of  the  Church  supposes  a  polity   composed 
of  a  conventional  platform,  and  a  code  of  legislation 
based  thereupon.     And  how  is  this  polity  connected 
with  Divine  authority  as  a  sanction  ?     Precisely  as 
the  polity  of  a  state  is.     "  The  powers  that  be  are 
ordained  of  God.      Whosoever,   therefore,  resisteth 
the  power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God."     (Rom. 
xiii.  1,  2.)     This  is  said  of  civil  or  political  institu- 
tions, without  exception  of  time,  place,  or  character. 
They  are  all,  bad  and  good,  in  every  age  and  nation, 
more  or  less  bad,  or  more  or  less  good,   "  ordinances 
of  God;"  in  other  words,   arrangements  of  Provi- 
dence.    Submission  and  obedience  to  them,  is  a  re- 
■  ligious  obligation.     And  why  ?     Because  any  society 
is  better  than  no  society,  order  better  than  disorder, 
for  the  purposes  of  the  Church.     Hence  the  inspired 
precept  above  cited,  that  the  servants  of  God  may 
have  the  best  possible  opportunities  to  set  up  a  king- 
dom which  is  not  of  this,  world. 

A  Church  polity  ought  to  be  an  institution  of  a 


10  DEFINITIONS. 

liiglier  order,  more  pure,  and  more  worthy  of  respect, 
than  civil  government.  Ordinarily  it  is  so.  But  it 
is  never  perfect,  where  fallible  men  are  its  authors.* 
It  ought  to  be  regarded,  in  a  higher  sense,  as  the 
"  ordinance  of  God."  But  the  principle  of  obedience 
to  it,  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  which  requires 
obedience  to  the  civil  magistrate.  Is  that  sufficient  ? 
Certainly,  for  all  practical  purposes,  and  equally  se- 
cure of  the  object,  as  if  the  polity  were  given  and 
sanctioned  by  Divine  inspiration,  and  as  if  it  were 
obeyed  as  such.  There  is  always  scope  enough,  un- 
der any  Church  polity,  though  of  human  device,  and 
having  imperfections,  for  the  use  of  all  talents  in 
promoting  the  cause  of  Christ,  Avithout  coming  into 
collision  with  the  polity  established ;  so  that  there 
can  never  be  a  sufficient  apology  for  such  a  disturb- 
ance. "  Whosoever  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the 
ordinance  of  God."  This  is  much  more  true  in  re- 
sisting the  polity  of  the  Church,  which  is  the  ordi- 
nance of  God  in  a  higher  sense.  Any  violation  of 
civil  authority,  is  so  far  an  approximation  towards 
anarchy  ;  and  anarchy  is  not  only  a  terrible  condi- 
tion of  man,  but  the  worst  possible  condition  for  the 
servants  of  God  to  do  good  in.  Hence  the  heinous- 
ness  of  the  offence  of  "resisting  the  power,"  and 
hence  the  Divine  prohibition.     In  the  same  manner, 

*  "  When  general  councils  be  gathered  together  (for  as  much  as 
they  be  an  assembly  of  men,  whereof  all  are  not  governed  by  the 
Spirit  and  word  of  God,)  they  may  err,  and  sometimes  have 
erred,  even  in  things  pertaining  to  God." — Art.  xxi.  Unff.  Ch. 

"As  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  Alexandria,  and  Autioch,  have 
erred,  so  also  the  .Church  of  Rome  hath  erred,  not  only  in  their 
living  and  manner  of  ceremonies,  but  also  in  matters  of  faith." — 
Articles  of  Religion,  xix. 


DEFINITIONS.    .  11 

any  violation  of  a  regulation  of  Church  polity,  is  an 
approximation  towards  anarchy  in  the  Church.  The 
polity  may  be  imperfect ;  but  that  does  not  diminish 
the  obligation  to  obedience,  so  long  as  it  is  law. 
There  is  always  room  for  the  full  employment  of  any 
one's  talents,  without  such  infraction.  The  authority 
of  a  Church  polity,  therefore,  is  as  complete  as  if  it 
were  given  by  Divine  inspiration ;  and  it  may  well 
be  allowed  to  have  a  Divine  sanction,  much  more 
emphatically  than  civil  government,  the  latter  of 
which  is  so  distinctly  recognized  by  Saint  Paul,  in 
the  opening  of  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  his  epistle 
to  the  Romans. 

An  exception  to  a  general  rule  establishes  the 
principle.  Extraordinary  exigencies  of  society,  both 
in  church  and  state,  may  occur,  and  have  occurred, 
to  justify  a  revolution.  But  the  general  rule  is, 
nevertheless,  the  standing  precept  imposed  on  the 
conscience  by  Divine  authority,  not  to  disturb  civil 
society,  and  not  to  disturb  a  Church  polity.* 

*  "  It~is  not  necessary  that  traditions  and  ceremonies  be  in  all 
places  one,  and  utterly  like ;  for  at  all  times  they  have  been  di- 
vers, and  may  be  changed  according  to  the  diversity  of  countries, 
times,  and  men's  manners,  so  that  nothing  be  ordained  against 
God's  Word.  Whosoever,  through  his  private  judgment,  wittingly 
and  purposely,  doth  openly  break  the  traditions  and  ceremonies 
of  the  Church,  -which  be  not  repugnant  to  the  "Word  of  God,  and 
be  ordained  and  approved  by  common  authority,  ought  to  be  re- 
buked openly,  (that  others  may  fear  to  do  the  like,)  as  he  that 
oflfendeth  against  the  common  order  of  the  Church,  and  hurteth 
the  authority  of  the  magistrate,  and  woundefh  the  conscience  of 
the  weak  brethren.  Every  particular  or  national  Church  hath 
authority  to  ordain,  change,  and  abolish  ceremonies  or  rites  of 
the  Church  ordained  only  by  man's  authority,  so  that  all  thino-g 
be  done  to  edifying." — Articles  of  Religion,  xxxiv. 


CHAPTER  11. 


THE    GENIUS    OF     CHRISTIANITY. 


Every  person  will  see,  that  the  genius  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  which  is  announced  on 
the  title  page  of  this  work,  as  one  of  its  two  princi- 
pal themes,  occupies  a  position  relative  to  other  things 
of  the  same  kind,  and  that  a  consideration  of  some 
examples  of  the  others,  will  assist  in  the  due  apprecia- 
tion of  this.  The  genius  of  Christianity  occupies  its 
own,  and  naturally  a  leading  position  in  the  general 
subject,  though  not  precisely  of  the  same  category 
as  those  portions  of  the  Christian  Church,  which  we 
propose  to  notice,  by  way  of  introduction,  before 
entering  on  the  main  topic. 

It  is  in  the  Grace  of  the  Christian  scheme,  that 
the  appropriate  genius  of  Christianity  is  developed ; 
in  its  grace  as  it  characterizes  the  plan  of  man's 
redemption,  and  as  it  is  bestowed  on  unworthy  reci- 
pients. .  Its  plan  is  too  high,  too  vast,  too  profound 
for  an  easy  apprehension.  Nevertheless,  some 
advances  may  be  made  in  this  species  of  knowledge, 
by  an  habitual  study  of  the  great  theme.  One  can 
think  of  the  demands  of  justice  against  the  transgres- 
sor, how  stern  and  inflexible  they  are,  and  of  the 
propitiatory  ofiering  th'at  was  made  on  the  Cross,  to 
satisfy  those  claims.  One  can  think  how  this  plan 
of  grace  to  man  occupied  the  councils  of  the  God- 
(12) 


THE   GENIUS   OF   CIimSTIANITY.  13 

head  from  eternity ;  and  how  it  must  have  been  in  view, 
in  bringing  the  race  of  man  into  existence.  One  can 
think  how  it  operated  in  the  treatment  of  Adam  and 
his  seed  after  the  fall;  in  the  institution  and  purpo- 
ses of  the  Abrahamic  covenant ;  in  the  selection  of 
the  Hebrew  race,  to  testify  for  the  true  God  amidst 
surrounding  and  Gentile  nations  ;  in  the  institution 
and  protracted  observance  of  the  rites  of  the  Mo- 
saic code  ;  in  the  mission,  life,  doctrine,  miracles,  and 
propitiatory  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God ;  in  his  res- 
urrection and  ascension,  leaving  gifts  for  the  Apos- 
tles, and  for  the  Church  of  all  ages  ;  in  the  abolition 
of  the  old  dispensation,  and  in  the  setting  up  of  the 
new,  by  the  hands  of  the  Apostles ;  in  the  publica- 
tion of  Christianity,  by  the  same  agency,  in  its  full 
and  complete  development ;  in  the  Church  planted, 
set  in  order,  and  matured  by  the  Apostles,  and  spread- 
ing over  the  world,  against  all  the  arts  and  persecu- 
tions of  Judaism,  and  Paganism  ;  in  the  maintenance 
of  one  Catholic  Church,  and  one  Catholic  faith,  down 
to  this  time,  amidst  all  the  vicissitudes,  trials,  and 
corruptions  that  have  befallen  the  Church ;  and  in 
bringing  about  the  present  hopeful  and  auspicious 
condition  of  the  Christian  world.  Of  all  this  we  may 
think,  and  much  more,  as  a  steady  and  progressive 
exemplification  of  the  grace  of  the  Christian  scheme, 
which,  it  will  be  understood,  not  only  runs  back  to 
Adam,  but  back  through  eternity.  It  is  now  named 
after  the  INIessiah,  Christian,  and,  as  we  suppose, 
will  never  have  'any  other  name. 

The  Christian  scheme  was  not  devised  for  another 
race,  but  for  ours ;  not  for  ours  in  an  uncorrupt,  but 

2 


14  THE    GENIUS    OF   CHIIISTIANITY. 

in  a  fallen  state ;  not  for  one  nation  in  particular, 
but  for  all  nations  ;  not  for  people  in  given  conditions 
and  in  given  circumstances,  but  for  people  in  all  con- 
ditions and  in  all  circumstances  whatsoever  ;  not  for 
the  cultivated  only,  but  for  the  uncultivated;  not 
only  for  the  wise  and  prudent,  but  for  the  ignorant 
and  barbarous ;  not  only  for  theologians,  but  for 
those  who  know  nothing  of  theology  in  the  technical 
sense  of  the  term ;  not  only  for  those  who  arc  well 
versed  in  the  Bible,  in  creeds,  and  in  catechisms,  but 
for  those  Avho  never  saw  a  Bible,  nor  rehearsed  a 
creed  or  a  catechism  ;  but  who,  like  the  thief  on  the 
Cross,  only  have  time  in  their  extremitiy  to  turn  one 
look  of  faith,  and  say,  "  Lord  remember  me  when 
thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom." 

Grace  is  a  principle  that  can  afford  any  thing  ex- 
cept the  invasion  of  other  principles,  which  in  the 
Divine  economy,  must  be  maintained.  Its  great  law 
is  to  magnify  itself  by  the  extent  and  greatness  of 
its  favors.  It  is  neither  knowledge,  nor  worthiness, 
nor  any  specific  measure  of  either,  that  invariably 
constitutes  the  condition  of  its  benefits.  Its  great 
aim  would  seem  to  be,  to  signalize  the  goodness  of 
Him  who  bestows  it.  It  was  unsolicited,  when  first 
conceived ;  and  from  that  hour — but  it  was  not  an 
hour — from  "the  beginning,"  from  a  period  of  eter- 
nity without  date,  it  has  sought  enlargement  in  the 
field  assigned  to  it — the  abode  of  fallen  humanity. 

Melchisedec,  both  king  and  priest,  "Avithout  father, 
without  mother,  Avithout  descent,  ha\'ing  neither  begin- 
ning of  d-djs,  nor  end  of  life,  but  made  like  unto  the 
Son  of  God,  a  priest  forever,"  was  as  much  a  type, 


THE   GENIUS    OF   CHRISTIANITY.  15 

and  fw  like  reasons,  of  the  grace  of  the  Christian 
scheme,  as  of  its  great  High  Priest.  Neither  was  to 
be  regulated  or  limited  by  existing  institutions.  There 
•was  no  model  or  rule  for  either  ;  but  both  exceeded 
all  example,  and  rose  superior  to  all  law,  Avithout 
violating  any.  "  Now,  consider  how  great  this  man 
was."  Consider,  also,  the  dimensions  of  the  field 
which  the  grace  of  Christianity  was  to  occupy.  It 
was  all  earth,  in  all  time.  It  was  all  heaven,  with 
all  its  eternal  ages.  It  was  the  universe,  and  all  its 
tenants,  as  spectators. 

Grace  is  the  ruling  principle  of  the  Christian 
scheme — is  its  heart,  its  foundation,  its  top  stone, 
its  broad  shield.  The  more  grace,  as  a  moral  prin- 
ciple in  the  giver,  bestows,  the  higher  its  gratifica- 
tion ;  and  in  God,  as  the  author  of  man's  redemp- 
tion, the  more  it  bestows,  the  more  dazzling  its  benefi- 
cence. It  was  only  necessary  that  there  should  be  a 
satisfaction  to  justice  ;  and  while  the  Cross  of  Christ 
is  visible,  and  the  groans  of  Him  who  died  thereon 
are  echoed  through  the  universe,  as  a  certificate  of 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God,  in  the  garb  of  human- 
ity, there  Avill  not  be  wanting  a  consideration  for  the 
satisfaction  of  justice,  however  munificent  the  grace 
bestowed  over  this  vast  field  of  human  delinquency 
and  provocation.  "  Where  sin  abounded,  grace  has 
much  more  abounded." 

As  the  complete  redemption  of  human  society, 
under  the  Christian  system,  in  the  progress  of  the 
execution  of  the  great  scheme  of  grace,  was  ordained 
to  be  accomplished  under  a  system  of  means,  appa- 
rently, and  in  the   present  practical  view",  actually 


16  THE   GENIUS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

slow  in  its  operations,  leaving  by  far  the  largest 
portions  of  the  human  family,  for  thousands,  per- 
haps many  thousands  of  years,  outside  of  the  revealed 
covenant  of  promise,  as  administered  under  a  pre- 
scribed system  of  sacramental  ordinances,  some  em- 
barrassment and  much  concern  have  been  felt  by 
those  'who  have  considered  the  subject,  as  to  the  final 
disposal  of  those  myriads  of  the  human  family,  com- 
monly denominated  heathen  or  pagans.  Saint  Paul, 
in  his  great  argument  to  the  Roman  Christians,  and 
elsewhere,  would  seem  to  have  given  us  some  relief 
on  this  point,  so  far,  at  least,  as  to  have  made  a  clear 
distinction  between  the  obligations  of  those  placed 
under  the  laws  of  Christianity,  and  of  those  provi- 
dentially placed  without  the  circle  of  those  laws.  We 
■will  here  cite  some  of  the  passages  from  his  hand,  on 
this  point : 

"  Sin  is  not  imputed,  where  there  is  no  law."  (Rom. 
V.  13.)  "  If  the  uncircumcision  keep  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  law,  shall  not  his  uncircumcision  be 
counted  for  circumcision  ?  And  shall  not  uncircum- 
cision, which  is  by  nature,  if  it  fulfil  the  law,  judge 
thee,  who  by  the  letter  and  circumcision  dost  trans- 
gress the  law?"  (Rom.  ii.  26,  27.)  "As  many  as 
have  sinned  without  law,  shall  also  perish  without 
law  ;  and  as  many  as  have  sinned  in  the  law,  shall  be 
judged  by  the  law.  When  the  Gentiles,"  (the  hea- 
then) "  who  have  not  the  law,  do  by  nature  the  things 
contained  in  the  law,  these  having  not  the  law,  are 
a  law  unto  themselves,  who  show  the  work  of  the  law 
written  in  their  hearts,  their  conscience  also  bearing 
-  witness,  and  their  thoughts  meanwhile  accusing,  or 


THE   GENIUS   OP   CHKISTIANITY.  17 

else  excusing  one  another."  (Rom.  ii.  12,  14,  15.) 
"  Now  we  know,  that  whatsoever  things  the  law  saith, 
it  saith  to  them  that  are  under  the  law."  (Rom.  iii. 
19.)     "The  invisible  things  of  him"  (God)  "from 
the  creation  of  the  world,  are  clearly  seen,  being 
understood  by  the  things  that  are  made,  even  his 
eternal  power  and  Godhead;  so  that  they"  (the  hea- 
then) "are  without  excuse."    (Rom,,  i.  20.)     Saint 
Peter,  also,  acknowledges  the  grace  of  God,  in  the 
case  of  Cornelius,  the  centurion,  uncircumcised  and 
unbaptized  though  he  was  :  "  Then  Peter  opened  his 
mouth,  and  said :  Of  a  truth,  I  perceive,  that  God  is 
no  respecter  of  persons  ;  but  in  every  nation,  he  that 
feareth  God,  and  worketh  righteousness,  is  accepted 
with  him."  (Acts  x.  34,  35.)     It  may,  therefore,  as 
we  think,  be  assumed,  that  the  principle  set  forth  in 
the  preceding  citations  from  Scripture,  viz.,  that  the 
heathen  will  be  judged  by  the  light  they  have,  and 
not  by  a  law  which  they  have  not,  is  a  part  of  the 
grace  of  the   Christian  scheme;    and  how  far  that 
grace  shall  be  extended  in  its  operation  for  their 
salvation,  through  the  atonement  and  offices  of  Jesus 
Christ,  may  safely  be  left  with  the  mercy  of  God. 
We  believe,  that  the  merits  of  Christ  are  extended 
to  irresponsible  infancy ;    and  who  shall  say,  that 
God,  in  his  infinite  kindness,  and  in  the  abounding 
grace  of  the  Christian  scheme,  may  not  have  placed 
irresponsible    ignorance    on   the    same    foundation  ? 
There  are  obvious  reasons  why  a  revealed  law  pub- 
lished as  a  rule  of  salvation,  should  express  its  con- 
ditions, so  that  they  cannot  be  misunderstood,  except 
by  a  wilful  perversion ;  and  reasons  equally  obvious, 

9* 


18  THE   GENTUS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

■why  little  is  said  about  the  Divine  plan  for  those 
portions  of  the  human  family,  who  are  "  without  this 
law."  God  has  so  far  enlightened  the  Christian 
world  on  this  point,  as  to  let  us  know,  that  "  what- 
soever things  the  law  saith,  it  saith  to  them  that  are 
under  the  law;"  and  that  an  unhaptized  heathen, 
who  "  does  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the 
law,"  will  judge  those  who,  having  the  law,  yet  diso- 
bey it.  Thus  much,  as  cannot  be  denied,  is  taught 
by  Divine  inspiration  on  this  subject ;  and  this  is  the 
sum. 

The  Apostle  Paul  exults  in  the  theme  of  abound- 
ing, grace.  "  Not  as  the  offence,  so  also  is  the  free 
gift.  For  if,  through  the  offence  of  one,  many  be 
dead,  much  more  the  grace  of  God,  and  the  gift  by 
grace,  which  is  by  one  man,  Jesus  Christ,  hath 
abounded  unto  many.  As  by  the  offence  of  one, 
judgment  came  upon  all  men  to  condemnation,  even 
so  by  the  righteousness  of  one,  the  free  gift  came 
upon  all  men  unto  justification  of  life.  The  law  en- 
tered, that  the  offence  might  abound.  But  where  sin 
abounded,  grace  did  much  more  abound,  that  as  sin 
hath  reigned  unto  death,  even  so  might  grace  reign, 
through  righteousness,  unto  eternal  life,  by  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord."  (Rom.  v.  15,  18,  20,  21.)  Again: 
"I  am  persuaded,  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor 
angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things 
present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth, 
nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord."  (Rom.  viii.  38,  39.)  In  view  of  this  grace, 
well  might  this  Apostle  exclaim  :    "  0  the  depth  of 


THE   GENIUS   OP   CHRISTIANITY.  19 

the  riches,  both  of  the  -vNisdom  and  knowledge  of 
God  !  How  unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and  his 
ways  past  finding  out !  For  who  hath  known  the 
mind  of  the  Lord  ?  Or  who  hath  been  his  counsel- 
lor?" (Rom,  xi.  33,  34.)  And  yet  there  are  those 
who  think  they  know  the  mind  of  the  Lord,  as  to  the 
methods  and  extent  of  his  grace ;  who  aspire  to  in- 
terpret his  unrevealed  counsels,  if  not  to  assist  in 
them ;  and  who  would  limit  his  grace,  and  narrow  it 
down  to  their  own  narrow  views.  Grace  is  a  muni- 
ficent attribute  ;  it  delights  in  conferring  unexpected 
favors  ;  and  it  will  doubtless  yet  surprise  the  world 
and  the  universe — much  more  a  narrow  theology — 
by  its  vast  and  liberal  gifts  to  man.  The  genius  of 
Christianity,  in  this  particular,  as  in  all  others,  is 
worthy  of  its  Author.  A  foundation  of  grace  being 
laid  in  the  Cross,  it  is  meet  that  it  should  be  illus- 
trated, in  a  manner,  and  on  a  scale,  corresponding, 
in  some  degree,  with  the  value  of  the  sacrifice,  though 
it  can  never  equal  it. 

The  views  above  given  of  grace  as  characterizing 
the  genius  of  Christianity,  apply  chiefly  to  the  work 
of  man's  redemption  as  a  plan  of  God.  But  grace 
as  a  personal  benefit,  bestowed  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
on  the  hearts  of  the  faithful  and  obedient,  naturally 
presents  itself  as  a  distinct  subject  of  consideration. 
This  is  a  great  theme,  and  one  of  profound  interest. 
To  confer  personal  benefits  here  on  earth,  and  in 
heaven,  is,  indeed,  the  great  end  of  the  plan.  The 
entire  scope  of  the  purposes  of  the  Christian  scheme, 
has  a  personal  bearing — contingently  of  course — but 
nevertheless  personal.     No  one  is  ever  born  again 


20  THE  GENIUS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

by  the  Spirit  of  God,  or  saved  in  heaven,  except  as 
a  personal  benefit ;  and  the  result  of  the  whole  mil 
be  a  consummation  of  the  plan  of  grace.  Though 
there  will  be  other  and  countless  reasons,  arising  out 
of  the  character,  works,  and  acts  of  God,  for  glori- 
fying him  in  the  songs  of  the  redeemed,  one  of  them 
will  be  in  direct  address  to  the  Lamb  of  God :  "  For, 
thou  hast  redeemed  US  to  God,  by  thy  blood,  out  of 
every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation." 
"  Thou  hast  redeemed  us."  (Rev.  v.  9.) 

Let  it  be  understood,  that  it  is  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  on  the  moral  affections  chiefly,  of  which 
we  now  speak ;  though  it  cannot  be  separated  from 
intellectual  light  and  enlargement.  The  mind  always 
works  with  the  affections,  on  all  moral  subjects,  and 
towards  all  objects  of  a  moral  character.  It  is  a 
part  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  constitution  of 
man,  that  his  affections  should  have  a  paramount  in- 
fluence, lead  the  way,  and  govern  his  conduct ;  and 
the  Holy  Spirit,  in  his  influences  on  the  mind  and 
heart  of  man,  acts  in  conformity  to  the  laws  of  our 
being,  by  setting  the  affections  right,  that  all  else 
may  be  right. 

It  is,  perhaps,  true,  and  may  be  instructive,  to  re- 
mark, that  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  executing 
the  plan  of  Divine  grace  on  individual  subjects,  is  of 
a  more  or  less  decided  character,  according  to  the 
circumstances  in  which  those  subjects  are  placed. 
The  first  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  under  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Apostles,  was  ordained  to  be  a  school  of 
training  for  extraordinary  trials.  That  was  the  grand 
epoch  of  the  world,  which  constituted  the  mortal 


THE   GENIUS   OP  CHRISTIANITY.  21 

struggle  between  Judaism  and  Paganism  on  the  one 
hand,  and  Christianity  on  the  other.  It  was  a  great 
agony  of  society,  Tvhich  produced  a  corresponding 
action  in  the  minds  of  men ;  and  the  Christians  of 
that  day  had  need  of  higher  endowments  from  on 
high,  than  in  any  subsequent  period.  Accordingly 
we  find,  that  the  work  of  God's  Spirit,  on  the  hearts 
and  minds  of  Christians  of  that  time,  was  more  de- 
cided in  its  character.  It  was  the  same  during  all 
the  persecutions  of  the  primitive  ages,  running  down 
into  the  fourth  or  fifth  century.  The  grace  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  bestowed  according  to  the  demands 
of  those  days  of  trial.  The  truth  of  this  remark  is 
illustrated  in  the  whole  history  of  the  Chuii^oh  down 
to  this  time,  and  not  less  so  in  the  history  of  indi- 
vidual Christians.  "  When  thou  walkest  throug-h 
the  fire,  thou  shalt  not  be  burned."  (Is.  xlii.  2.)  In 
all  great  trials  of  the  Church,  and  of  Christians,  the 
grace  of  God  has  been  equal  to  the  occasions.  The 
kingdom  of  Divine  grace,  like  that  of  Providence, 
appears  to  be  a  system  of  compensations.  If  God 
denies  to  his  people  the  things  which  they  naturally 
most  desire,  he  pays  them  back,  not  measure  for 
measure,  but  with  the  far  richer  communications  of 
his  grace ;  and  he  does  it  in  the  very  article  of  death, 
which  is  the  greatest  possible,  indeed  a  total  depriva- 
tion of  all  earthly  good.  It  is  an  unutterable  agony, 
too,  physically  considered.  It  is  seen  and  felt  to  be 
such  by  the  spectators  of  the  scene.  With  dumb  as- 
tonishment, nature  living,  looks  on  nature  dying. 
She  feels  there  is  an  end  of  society  between  the  par- 
ties ;  that  an  invisible,  fearful  power  is  rending  the 


22  THE   GENIUS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

heart-strings,  and  taking  away  the  breath  of  a  loved 
one ;  and  the  next  moment  all  is  still.  A  great 
struggle  is  ended ;  a  fearful  doom  has  obtained  pos- 
session of  its  victim.  No  one  knows  what  that  de- 
parting soul  experienced  of  the  grace  of  God  in  that 
hour,  except  by  the  faint  tokens  of  resignation,  and, 
it  may  be,  the  smiles  of  joyful  hope.  But  it  is  the 
last  great  trial,  and  the  greatest,  immeasurably  the 
greatest  of  all.  Nevertheless,  with  the  Christian,  it 
is  paid  back,  first,  in  the  grace  which  supports  the 
departing  spirit ;  and  next,  in  the  opening  visions  of 
a  better  and  a  brighter  world,  and  by  an  entrance 
into  its  joys.  How  many  examples  have  we  of  the 
triumphant  death  of  Christians,  in  which  grace  over- 
masters pain,  takes  away  all  fear,  and  makes  the 
message,  terrible  as  it  is  to  nature,  welcome !  "  0 
death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  0  grave,  where  is  thy 
victory  ?"  (1  Cor.  xv.  55.)  The  victory  is  on  the 
other  side,  and  the  sting  is  not.  It  is  an  exultation 
over  the  greatest  foe  of  man,  a  defiance  of  his  power. 
By  what  means  ?     Grace,  and  that  alone. 

What  is  this  mighty  power,  which  so  transforms 
the  man  in  life,  and  which  so  o'ermasters  the  king 
of  terrors  ?  Whence  is  it  derived,  and  on  what  ac- 
count ?  Go  to  Calvary,  and  then  turn  back  to  the 
promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  you  have  the  answer. 
The  nature  of  man  on  earth  is  changed,  and  his  great 
antagonist  in  the  hour  of  death  is  subdued.  "  The 
strength  of  sin  is  the  law.  But  thanks  be  to  God, 
who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  (1  Cor.  xv.  56,  57.) 

It  is,  therefore,  only  when  we  have  considered  the 


THE   GENIUS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  23 

grace  of  the  Christian  scheme,  as  a  plan  of  God  for 
the  redemption  of  man,  and  as  a  personal  attribute 
in  all  those  on  whom  it  has  been  and  shall  be  be- 
stowed by  the  Holy  Spirit,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  time,  crowding  the  portals  and  peopling  the 
mansions  of  Heaven  with  the  redeemed  from  all  na- 
tions and  tribes  of  earth,  till  time  shall  be  reckoned 
no  more,  there  to  feel  this  grace  in  their  hearts,  and 
to  celebrate  it  in  their  songs,  through  eternal  ages ; — 
it  is  only  then,  we  say,  that  we  begin  to  appreciate 
the  appropriate  genius  of  Christianity.  We  do  not 
liken  it  to  a  thing  of  earth,  for  it  has  no  likeness 
here ;  though  we  are  compelled  to  use  the  language 
of  earth  to  present  the  picture.  To  do  it  justice,  we 
need  an  angel's  pen,  an  angel's  capacious  thought, 
an  angel's  field  of  observation,  an  angel's  powers, 
and  an  angel's  holy  admiration  of  the  theme.  To 
do  it  justice,  we  have  need  to  be  lifted  to  4;hat  eleva- 
tion, where  we  might  see  it  as  it  occupied  the  mind 
of  God  himself,  before  the  work  was  begun.  It  is  a 
spectacle  exhibited  to  the  world  and  to  the  universe, 
not  to  be  fully  appreciated — for  that  can  never  be — 
but  as  a  subject  on  which  the  thought  and  admiration 
of  the  liighest  intelligences  may  expatiate,  till 
thought  shall  begin  to  find  its  own  incapacity  ever 
duly  to  estimate  it,  and  till  admiration  itself  shall 
wonder  at  its  own  shortcomings. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   GENIUS  OF  THE   PRIMITITE  CHURCH.* 

The  genius  of  the  primitive  Church,  which,  as  a 
general  historical  distinction,  we  regard  as  running 
down  into  the  fifth  century,  next  claims  attention, 
as  a  pertinent  and  very  interesting  subject.  Its 
type  is  peculiar,  and  will  probably  forever  remain 
so.  Its  most  prominent  feature  is  that  of  a  martyr- 
spirit.  The  great  Master  led  the  way,  and  expired 
upon  the  Cross,  not  only  as  an  atoning  priest,  which 
was  the  fulfilment  of  his  especial  mission,  but  as  a 
martyr,  which  was  the  doom  of  an  earthly  tribunal ; 
and  he  had  foretold  his  disciples,  that  they  also 
should  suffer  persecution :  "  In  the  world  ye  shall 
have  tribulation.  They  will  deliver  you  up  to  the 
councils ;  and  they  will  scourge  you  in  their  syna- 
gogues ;  and  ye  shall  be  brought  before  governors 
and  kings.  Ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my 
name's  sake."  (John  xvi.  33;  Math.  x.  17,  18.) 

The  Christian  Church  was  launched  on  a  sea  of 
commotion  and  blood.  The  timid  disciples,  who  ran 
away  from  their  Master  in  the  hour  of  his  trial,  af- 
terwards became  heroic  martyrs  in  their  turn.     Af- 

*  Regarding  the  time  usually  allowed,  as  comprehended  in  the 
"primitive  ages"  of  the  Church,  Bishop  Burnet  says  : — "  By  the 
customs  of  the  primitive  Church,  'we  mean,  the  order  most  gener- 
ally used  in  the  Church  for  the  space  of  five  hundred  years  after 
Christ." — Burnet's  Reformation,  Part  11.  Book  III.  Records. 

(24) 


THE    GENIUS    OF    THE    PRIMITIVE    CHURCH.        'Ji> 

tev  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  they  were  armed  for  every  exigency  that 
awaited  them.  The  seventh  chapter  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  records  a  sermon  and  the  death  of  the 
first  martyr.  His  career  was  brief,  but  his  end  glo- 
rious. He  saw  "  the  heavens  opened  and  the  Son  of 
man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God;"  and  with 
this  vision  before  his  eyes,  he  kneeled  to  die,  and 
with  the  true  martyr-spirit,  prayed  for  his  murderers  : 
"Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge."  Saul  of 
Tarsus  was  there,  "  consenting  to  his  death,"  and 
kept  the  clothes  of  the  executioners.  The  blood  of 
the  first  martyr  could  not  but  produce  a  sensation  in 
the  public  mind,  yet  it  abated  naught  of  the  fury  of 
the  persecutors  of  Christians,  but  only  increased  it. 
"  As  for  Saul,  he  made  havoc  of  the  Church,  entering 
into  every  house,  and  haling  men  and  women,  com- 
mitted them  to  prison.  Therefore,  they  that  were 
scattered  abroad,  went  every  where  preaching  the 
word."  (Acts  viii.  3,  4.)  Then,  as  ever  since,  the 
blood  of  the  martyr  was  the  seed  of  the  Church. 

The  persecutions  of  the  primitive  Church  made 
heroes  of  Christians.  They  were  born  heroes  in  their 
baptism.  None  but  heroes  and  heroines  dared  to 
profess  the  name  of  Christ.  The  Apostles,  after 
they  received  the  Holy  Ghost,  felt  the  power  of  the 
example  of  their  Lord  and  Master,  and  were  ready 
to  follow  him  by  the  Cross,  or  by  the  flames,  or  by 
any  mode  of  violent  exit ;  and  Christians  every 
where  were  animated  by  the  example  of  the  Apostles. 
It  was  forsaking  all,  risking  all,  and  often  sacrificing 
all,  even  life  itself,  for  Christ.     Sometimes,  and  in 

3 


26       THE    GENIUS    OF    THE    PRIMITIVE    CHURCH. 

some  places,  tlie  Church  had  peace  ;  but  the  martyr- 
spirit  was  the  spirit  of  the  Church ;  for  at  all  times, 
and  in  all  places,  with  brief  intervals,  the  primitive 
Christians  were  exposed  to  martyrdom.  It  was  a 
mighty  transition  of  society,  involving  stupendous 
moral  convulsions,  such  as  the  world  never  expe- 
rienced before,  and  which  it  can  never  experience 
again, — a  transition  from  Judaism  and  Paganism  to 
Christianism.  Judaism,  as  all  know,  is  the  most 
stubborn  of  all  religions,  an  essential  ingredient  of 
which  was  originally,  and  always  when  it  could  be 
maintained,  a  civil  polity ;  and  though  subject  to 
pay  tribute  to  the  Romans,  and  forced  to  receive 
Roman  governors,  the  Jews  still  had  their  own  laws 
and  their  own  polity  at  the  advent  of  Christ,  and 
when  the  Apostles  entered  on  their  great  mission. 
But  Christianity  announced  the  end  of  Jewish  insti- 
tutions, and  tolled  the  funereal  requiem  of  the  Mo- 
saic code,  in  the  very  ears  of  the  nation,  when  the 
nation  had  power  enough  to  avenge  the  insult,  as  the 
Jews  regarded  it.  The  beginning  of  the  struggle 
scattered  the  Christian  converts  from  Jerusalem  to 
the  four  winds  of  heaven ;  and  they  had  multiplied 
in  great  numbers  at  the  first  preaching  of  the  Apos- 
tles. The  first  day,  the  day  of  Pentecost,  "  about 
three  thousand  were  added  to  the  Church;"  and  in 
a  short  time,  before  the  persecutions  commenced, 
Jerusalem  swarmed  witli  Christians.  The  martyrdom 
of  Saint  Stephen  was  the  signal  for  the  onset,  and  a 
single  man,  Saul  of  Tarsus,  "  made  havoc  of  the 
Church."  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  will  tell  the 
story. 


THE   GENIUS   OF   THE    PllIMITIVE    CHURCH.        27 

The  Pagan  -world,  too,  -which  as  yet  had  not  been 
taught  to  respect  Christianity,  became,  after  a  time, 
alarmed  at  this  ne-w  doctrine.  Christianity  -was 
equally  opposed  to  Paganism,  in  all  its  forms,  as  to 
Judaism.  Its  doctrine  struck  at  the  root  of  both, 
declaring  Judaism  at  an  end,  and  the  gods  of  Pa- 
ganism worthy  of  no  respect.  To  the  Je-ws  it  said : 
Ye  have  crucified  your  o-wn  Messiah,  in  the  person 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  -whom  God  raised  from  the 
dead ;  and  by  his  resurrection,  all  your  temple  ser- 
vices, and  your  ancient  rites,  so  long  cherished,  are 
abolished  forever.  Christ,  the  crucified  one,  is  King 
of  the  Je-ws.  To  the  Pagan  -world  it  said :  These 
gods  are  no  gods ;  and  these  rites  are  polluted  and 
polluting.  We  proclaim  the  only  true  God,  and  Je- 
sus Christ  his  Son,  the  only  Saviour  of  man.  He 
-was  crucified,  is  risen,  and  no-w  claims  your  homage 
and  submission.     He  is  Kins;  of  kings. 

It  is  not  strange,  that  men  so  bold,  if  they 
must  be  heard  at  all,  should  meet  -with  opposition 
from  these  t-wo  quarters  of  human  society,  -which 
comprehended  all  society.  They  did  meet  with 
opposition,  and  the  -whole  -world,  Jev,'  and  Gentile, 
one  portion  after  another,  rose  up  in  arms  against 
them.  The  shock  between  the  parties,  the  Jews  and 
Pagans  on  one  side,  and  Christians  on  the  other,  was 
great  and  fearful,  and  the  scene  a  perfectly  novel 
one.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
physical  force,  on  an  immense  scale,  was  systemati- 
cally arrayed,  and  brought  in  conflict  for  a  long  pro- 
tracted period,  against  moral  force.  We  do  not 
mean,  that  there  were  never  any  persecutions  of  the 


28       THE    GENIUS    OF   THE    PRIMITIVE   CHURCH. 

advocates  of  true  religion  before ;  but  none  of  such 
maguitude,  and  of  such  long  duration.  It  was  a  new 
spectacle  to  see  men,  women,  and  children,  the  strong 
and  frail,  die  without  resistance  for  opinion,  and 
when  dying,  to  forgive  their  executioners,  and  pray 
for  them.  The  very  sight  was  the  most  powerful 
kind  of  preaching,  and  made  more  converts  than  any 
other  mode  of  address  to  the  feelings  of  the  public. 

It  is  true  there  were  intervals  of  repose  for  the 
Church,  now  and  then,  and  here  and  there  ;  but  for 
more  than  three  hundred  3'ears,  the  Church  was 
forced  to  be  trained  for  the  endurance  of  persecu- 
tions ;  and  some  of  them,  under  the  Roman  Empe- 
rors, were  fearfully  devastating  on  the  ranks  of 
Christians. 

This  to  show,  that  the  genius  of  the  primi- 
tive Church,  during  the  Apostolic  age,  and  for  a  long 
time  afterwards,  was  necessarily  and  profoundly 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  martyrdom.  It  is  gen- 
erally supposed,  that  all  the  Apostles  were  martyrs. 
Martyrdom,  for  many  ages,  was  often  coveted.  It 
grew  into  a  proud  distinction,  not  of  the  baser  sort, 
but  of  glorying  in  the  Cross  of  Christ.  The  mar- 
tyrs usually  were  so  divinely  sustained,  seemed  so 
triumphant,  and  their  faces  were  illumed  with  such 
gladness  and  joy,  at  the  very  moment  of  their  sliarp- 
est  pains  of  body,  that  spectators  often  wished  to 
change  places  with  them  ;  and  many  were  the  instan- 
ces, in  which  the  sight  brought  out  confessors  on  the 
spot,  with  the  certain  knowledge  of  being  condemned 
to  the  same  fate.  It  was  a  species  of  ecstacy,  to 
which  their  sympathies  elevated  them,  and  they  could 


THE    GENIUS   OF   THE   miMITIYE    CHURCH.       29 

not  resist  the  excitement.  They  wished  only  to  die 
and  be  with  Christ ;  for  what  was  the  world  worth  in 
such  times  ?  In  some  instances  this  desire  of  mar- 
tyrdom may  have  been  of  a  censurable  character ;  but 
it  generally  proved  two  things :  a  world  not  worth 
having,  and  a  vigorous  faith,  rarely,  if  ever  known, 
in  more  quiet  times.  The  Saviour  died  a  martyr, 
though  it  was  the  smallest  virtue  of  his  death.  His 
Apostles  died  martyrs,  and  gloried  in  it.  Hundreds 
of  thousands  of  Christians  of  the  early  ages  died 
martyrs  for  their  faith ;  and  they,  too,  rejoiced  in  it. 
"  The  noble  army  of  martyrs  praise  thee." 

We  may  well  believe  in  the  special  Divine  support 
of  the  martyrs.  It  was  a  great  cause  in  which  they 
suffered.  It  was  in  the  struggle  between  Paganism 
and  Judaism  on  the  one  hand,  and  Christianity  on 
the  other,  till  the  latter  should  gain  a  secure  footing 
in  the  earth.  The  Saviour  himself  led  the  way,  and 
though  he  suffered  for  an  infinitely  higher  purpose 
than  to  attest  the  truth  of  his  mission  and  doctrine, 
should  he  not  regard  with  special  favor  those  who 
suffered  for  him  all  they  could  suffer  ?  He  who  knew 
all  things,  foresaw  these  troublous  times,  and  pre- 
dicted them  frequently  and  emphatically;  and  he 
promised  support  to  those  who  should  suffer  for  his 
name's  sake.  It  is,  therefore,  precisely  in  accordance 
with  these  predictions  and  promises,  that  the  great 
army  of  martyrs  should  be  divinely  sustained.  Their 
path  is  the  most  luminous  of  any  part  of  Christian 
history.  The  genius  of  the  primitive  Church  was  such 
as  will  never  be  found  again,  because  there  will  be  no 
more  occasion  for  it.      The  public  opinion  of  the 

3* 


30         THE   GENIL'S   OF   THE    PRIMITIVE   CHURCH. 

■world,  -svhich,  -when  Christianity  was  first  promulga- 
ted, was  every  "where,  and  among  all  nations,  against 
it,  and  -which  raised  such  persecutions  against  the 
primitive  Church,  is  now,  among  all  the  most  power- 
erful  and  most  influential  nations  of  the  earth,  in 
favor  of  Christianty.  The  genius  of  the  primitive 
Church,  therefore,  was  perfectly  peculiar,  and  its 
most  prominent  attribute  was  the  spirit  of  martyrdom. 
That  is  always,  not  only  a  pure  and  exalted,  but  a 
vigorous  and  eifective  spirit.  It  shone  brightly  in 
its  day,  and  has  made  an  indelible  impression  on  the 
world.  The  history  of  those  times  is  marvellous,  and 
with  those  who  cannot  appreciate  it,  it  exceeds  belief. 
But  it  is  precisely  the  history  that  might  have  been 
expected,  when  the  object  that  was  to  be  accom- 
plished is  considered. 


CHAPTER  lY. 

THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

The  Church  of  Rome  is  ca  body  i^olitic,  composed 
solely  of  the  priesthood,  including  the  Primate  or 
Pope,  as  Chief.    The  laity  are  no  part  of  the  Church, 
as  it  has  been   constituted  for  many  centuries ;  but 
mere    suhJQcU  of  an  absolute  prince,  all  ^vhose  dog 
matic  acts  are  held,  in  theory,  and  for  all  practical 
purposes,    to   be   infallible.     In   common   parlance, 
the  laity  may  be    called  members  of  the   Church; 
but  that  is  impossible,  as  the  Church  is  composed  of 
a  priesthood,  high  above  them,  and  independent  of 
them.     The  relation  of  the  laity  to  the  priesthood  or 
government,  is  solely  that  of  subjects,  bound  to  obe- 
dience in  all  things,  without  an  alternative  in  any 
case  whatsoever.     Absolute  authority  is  the  govern- 
ing principle,  in  the  genius  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
There  are,  indeed,  privileges,  or  what  are  regarded  as 
such,  enjoyed  by  the  laity,  and  one  of  them  is  an 
entire    faith  in  the   paternal  administration  of  the 
Pope  and  of  his  subordinates.     The  seven  sacraments 
to  which,  on  certain  conditions,  the  laity  are  entitled, 
are  accounted  privileges.     It  is  accounted  a  privi- 
lege to  have  ghostly  counsel  at  the  confessional  and 
elsewhere ;  to  have  absolution  for  the  past,  and  dis- 
pensation  for   the  future ;  to   be   prayed   for  when 
dead;  to  be  helped  out  of  purgatory  by  the  priests 

(31) 


82      GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

of  the  Church  on  earth.  These,  and  all  other  offices 
of  the  priesthood,  are  represented  as  privileges,  and 
accepted  as  such  ;  hut  the  laity  are  mere  recipients, 
on  condition  of  submission  and  obedience.  They  are 
not,  and  cannot  be  members  of  the  Church ;  for  the 
Church,  as  such,  is  composed  solely  of  the  priest- 
hood. To  be  members  of  a  society,  always  supposes 
some  rights,  other  than  to  be  the  recipients  of  its  ben- 
efits. But  the  genius  of  the  Church  of  Rome  toler- 
ates no  rights,  no  prerogatives,  except  in  the  clergy, 
and  its  official  agents.  For  the  laity,  it  is  all  duty, 
submission,  obedience.  The  compensation  is  in  the 
privileges  above  named,  an.d  the  promise  of  heaven. 

All  human  polities  are  the  creatures  of  time  and 
circumstance,  and  that  of  the  Church  of  Rome  is 
not  an  exception,  but  the  most  notable  example.  It 
is  the  oldest  in  Europe  certainly,  if  not  in  the  "world. 
That  of  China  may  be  older,  and  possibly  some 
others  of  the  oriental  nations.  That  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  is  the  best  considered,  most  far  seeing,  most 
profound,  most  comprehensive,  and  most  philoso- 
phical, of  all  others — philosophical,  we  mean  for  its 
purposes.  From  the  beginning  of  its  construction, 
it  has  had  in  its  service  the  most  saoiacioug  observei-s 
of  human  nature,  in  all  its  moods,  tastes,  and  ten- 
dencies ;  in  all  its  conditions,  and  in  all  circumstances. 
From  age  to  age,  every  advantage  has  been  taken 
of  the  results  of  experience  to  perfect  the  system. 
The  accidental  position  of  the  city  of  Rome,  in  I'eln- 
tion  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  coihmercially,  socially, 
and  politically,  after  a  long  struggle  between  its 
claims    and    those    of   Constantinople,    decreed   the 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      33 

former,  at  last,  as  the  centre  of  spiritual  empire.*  The 
Bishop  of  Rome  elevated  and  enlarged  his  pretensions, 
Avith  the  rise  and  groAvth  of  Rome's  political  sway  ;  hut 
he  never  abridged  them  under  Rome's  political  re- 
verses. Spiritual  power,  in  the  unripe  ages  of  civil- 
ization, often  found  chances  of  progress,  and  of 
extending  its  domain,  in  the  political  misfortunes  of 
the  world.  The  Bishop  of  Rome,  once  establish- 
ed the  chief  of  all  Christendom,  was  the  pivot  on 
which  turned  the  fortunes  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
From  that  hour  was  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
mightiest,  most  subtle,  and  most  comprehensive 
polity,  that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  or  ever  will  see, 
as  one  of  man's  device.  No  fabric  of  human  society 
has  ever  enlisted  so  much  talent,  so  much  learning, 
so  much  knowledge  of  human  nature  in  all  its  work- 
ings, so  much  philosophy,  so  much  art,  so  much  of 
every  thing  that  augments  and  consolidates  power 
over  man,  enlarges  the  field  of  its  influence,  and 
perpetuates  itself.  No  other  fabric  of  society  has 
ever  opened  such  a  field  for  ambition.  It  was  the 
hope  and  expectation  of  bringing  this  world  under 
foot,  by  the  superincumbent  weight  of  the  future  and 

•  "  I  allow  no  authority  to  the  bishops  of  Rome  out  of  their  own 
iliocese.  The  additional  dignity  that  they  came  to  have,  flowed 
from  the  constitution  of  the  Roman  empire  ;  and  since  Rome  is 
no  more  the  scat  of  empire,  it  has  lost  all  that  primacy  which  was 
yielded  to  it,  merely  by  reason  of  the  dignity  of  the  city.  So 
that,  as  Byzance,  from  being  a  small  bishopric,  became  a  patri- 
archal seat,  upon  the  exaltation  of  that  city ;  by  the  same  rule, 
upon  the  depression  of  Rome,  the  bishops  of  that  see  ought  to 
have  lost  all  that  dignity  that  was  merely  accidental." — Bishop 
Burnet,  Appendix  to  the  Records. 


34  GENIUS   OF  THE   CHURCH   OF   ROME. 

unkno\Yn  vrorld,  -with  tlie  advantage  of  making  the 
future  answer  all  desired  purposes,  by  new  creations 
of  dogmatical  instruction  in  regard  to  it.  He  who 
first  conceived  the  idea  of  Peter's  Supremacy  was 
a  bold  man.  The  keys  of  the  Primate  Avere  easily 
fabricated  by  a  forced  interpretation  of  that  passage 
in  the  Gospel,  which  relates  to  the  subject.  Su- 
premacy once  established,  and  the  succession  also 
forcibly  verified,  it  was  only  necessary  to  put  on 
the  girdle,  and  display  the  keys  hanging  thereon. 
Thenceforth  heaven  was  in  the  gift  of  the  Pope,  and 
of  him  alone,  mediately  and  immediately  ;  and  that 
for  princes,  as  well  as  for  the  vulgar.  He,  too,  was 
a  great  man,  who  invented  Purgatory.  There  is  a 
profound  philosophy  in  that.  Behold  its  practical 
operation  on  the  treasury  of  the  Church,  in  masses 
for  the  dead,  and  in  dispensations  from  the  pains  of 
hell.  The  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  what  a 
field  for  the  imagination,  and  what  a  claTm  for  the 
respect  and  reverence  of  the  multitude  !  The  multi- 
plication of  the  sacraments,  and  the  position  they 
occupy  as  elements  of  power,  was  an  eminent  stroke 
of  policy.  The  infallibility  of  the  Pope  was  also  a 
great  idea.  See  how  it  silences  inquirj'-,  settles  con- 
troversy, and  puts  a  stop  to  all  protests  and  remon- 
strances against  authority.  See  how  it  gives  one 
mind  to  a  universal  church,  scattered  over  the  face 
of  the  earth.  There  is  a  profound  philosophy  in 
that,  too.  The  power  of  indulgences  is  a  most  con- 
venient idea.  What  wealth  has  flowed  into  the  cof 
fers  of  the  Church  of  Ptome  thei-eby ;  and  what 
treasures   are   always    in   abeyance,   whenever   and 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      35 

wherever  the  claim  can  prudently  be  asserted ;  for  it 
is  an  established  principle  in  the  polity  of  the  papal 
Church.*  The  terrible  thunders  of  papal  bulls  and 
anathemas,  and  the  power  of  excommunication,  how 

*  Bishop  Burnet,  among  the  Records  appended  to  his  History  of 
the  Reformation,  has  given  copies  of  sixteen  indulgences  issued 
by  Popes  of  Rome.  We  have  transcribed  the  following  four  from 
his  list,  and  made  an  abridgment  of  the  others.  The  prayers  re- 
ferred to,  are  not  given. 

"Our  holy  father,  Sixtus  the  Fourth,  Pope,  hath  granted 
to  all  them  that  devoutly  say  this  prayer  before  the  image  of  ou? 
Lady,  the  sum  of  11,000  years  of  pardon." 

"  Our  holy  father,  the  pope  John  22d,  hath  granted  to  all  them 
that  devoutly  say  this  prayer,  after  the  elevation  of  our  Loi"d 
Jesus  Christ,  3000  days  of  pardon  for  deadly  sins." 

"  Our  holy  father,  the  pope  Bonifacius  the  6th,  hath  granted  to 
all  them  that  say  devoutly  this  pl'ayer  following,  between  the  eleva- 
tion of  our  Lord  and  the  three  Agnus  Dei,  10,000  years  of  pardon." 

"  These  five  petitions  and  prayers  were  made  by  St.  Gregory, 
and  it  is  granted  unto  all  them  that  devoutly  say  these  five  prayers, 
with  five  Pater  Nosters,  five  Ave  Maries,  and  a  Credo,  500  years 
of  pardon." 

Another,  issued  by  five  Popes  successively,  grants  500  years 
and  as  many  Lents  of  pardon ;  another,  300  days  of  pardon ; 
another,  40  years  and  80  Lentiugs  ;  another  promises  heaven  with- 
out purgatory  ;  another,  "clean  remission  of  their  sins  per- 
petually enduring  ;"  another,  "  as  many  days  of  pardon  as  there 
were  wounds  in  the  body  of  our  Lord  in  the  time  of  his 
litter  passion,  the  which  were  o4G5  ;"  another  promises  1,000,000 
years  of  pardon  for  deadly  sins ;  another,  32,755  years  of 
pardon ;  another,  6,000  years ;  another,  oOCO  years  of  pardon 
for  deadly  sins,  and  3000  years  for  venial  sins  ;  another,  4000 
days  ;  and  another  promises  to  commute  from  eternal  damnation, 
already  incurred,  into  a  limited  purgatoiy,  which  shall  also  be 
forgiven,  on  another  condition,  with  the  benefit  of  a  direct  pass- 
port to  heaven. — (Burnet's  Collection  of  Records.) 

The  folios,  from  which  these  indulgences  are  copied,  are  marked 
as  found  in  the  English  oSQces,  and  pi'inted  at  Paris,  152G. 


36  GENIUS   OF   THE    CHURCH    OF   llOJIE. 

have  they  made  kings  turn  pale,  and  frightened  the  * 
workl  into  obedience  !  These,  too,  were  great  in- 
ventions. The  Inquisition,  what  an  effective  ma- 
chinery !  And  was  not  Ignatius  Loyola  a  great 
genius  ?  The  policy  of  losing  nothing  that  can  be 
kept,  and  of  acquiring  all  that  can  be  gained,  in 
Christian  and  pagan  lands,  by  establishing  orders  and 
missions  of  specific  principles,  with  specific  qualifica- 
tions, under  specific  instructions,  for  specific  ends  ; 
is  there  not  wisdom  in  that  ?  The  monasteries,  con- 
vents, and  nunneries,  have  they  not  been  great  and 
influential  institutions  in  their  time,  which  even  yet 
is  not  entirely  gone  by  ?  This  is  still  a  cherished 
policy  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  celibacy  of  the 
clergy,  what  a  stupendous  convenience  in  such  a 
polity !  That,  too,  was  a  great  idea.  The  power 
and  the  custom  of  calling  representatives  of  the 
Church  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  to  do  homage  at 
the  feet  of  tlie  Pontiff,  to  receive  his  blessing,  and 
to  return  with  his  fresh  orders,  what  an  evidence  and 
what  means  of  discipline  !  The  patronage  of  the 
arts,  so  early  and  so  long  continued,  as  to  keep  the 
lead  of  all  the  world,  what  an  attraction  for  the 
most  cultivated  tastes  of  mankind !  What  devotee 
of  the  arts  in  the  civilized  world,  if  he  is  able,  can 
be  content  without  visiting  Rome  ?  Is  not  that  wis- 
dom ?  What  unrivalled  monuments  of  architecture 
has  the  Church  of  Rome  erected  !  What  gorgeous 
decorations  of  her  temples  I  What  an  attractive  and 
what  an  imposing  service  !  What  festivals  !  What 
an  invention  the  carnival,  as  a  compensation  for  the 
abstinences   of  Lent !     The   canonization   of  saints, 


GENIUS   OF   THE    CIIUECII    OF    HOME.  37 

*  what  a  spur  to  ambition  for  some  great  service  to  the 
Church  I  It  is  policy,  not  sanctity,  that  makes  a 
saint  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  though  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  she  has  canonized  some  of  the  best  of 
men.  Auricular  confession,  what  an  engine  of 
power,  vast,  comprehensive,  and  often  terrible !  Not 
a  secret  of  the  human  heart  can  hide  itself  from  its 
all-searching  eye ;  and,  alas !  for  the  wiles  and 
stratagems  that  may  be  practised  there  !  The  denial 
of  the  scriptures  for  common  use,  and  of  the  right 
of  individuals  to  study  them  for  themselves,  what 
an  admirable  dogma  for  harmony  of  opinion,  and 
not  less  useful  to  serve  the  vast  designs  of  such 
a  polity,  in  bringing  the  world  in  subjection  to  the 
priesthood  ! 

There  is  a  philosophy  in  every  appointment  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  in  every  institution,  in  every  dogma, 
and  in  every  part  of  her  polity — a  philosophy  that 
has  been  weil  considered,  and  most  skilfully  adapted 
to  human  nature,  and  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
ends  in  view,  soine  of  them  necessarily  transient,  but 
most  of  them  for  perpetual  usage  and  permanent 
effect.  Human  talent  and  skill,  of  the  highest  order, 
and  to  an  incalculable  amount,  have  been  exhausted 
in  the  mighty  efibrt ;  and  the  polity  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  with  all  her  dogmas,  with  all  branches  of 
her  discipline,  with  her  modes  of  worship,  and  modes 
of  teaching,  for  so  many  centuries  in  birth  and  in 
growth,  may  be  said  to  have  arrived,  long  since,  to  a 
ne  plus  ultra.  For  who  can  add  to  it  ?  What  re- 
gions of  earth,  in  politics  or  morals,  i-eraain  to  be 
explored  by  a  new  enterprise  ?  What  regions  of 
4 


38      GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

heaven,  what  regions  of  hell,  accessible  to  imagina- 
tion, have  not  boon  visited  ?  The  visions  of  Dante 
are  colored  by  the  theology  of  Rome,  and  are  con- 
formed to  that  standard.  Will  another  genius  arise 
to  eclipse  his  inventions  ? 

The  Church  of  Rome  has  made  her  last  draft  on 
earth,  and  heaven,  and  hell,  for  the  establishment  of 
her  empire.  Time  was  when  her  drafts  were  honored 
at  sight,  as  well  on  the  faith  of  kings,  as  on  the 
credulity  of  the  vulgar.  It  was  a  great  conception, 
though  a  mistake,  to  propose  to  govern  this  world  by 
drawing  on  the  next,  and  to  make  of  the  next  Avhat- 
ever  might  be  necessary  to  accomplish  this  end.  He 
who  wore  on  his  girdle  the  keys  of  heaven  and  of 
hell,  while  the  dogma  of  their  purpose  and  effect  had 
credit  with  the  lofty  and  the  low,  over  the  Christian 
world,  was  a  mighty  prince.  Who,  from  such  an 
eminence,  would  not  be  tempted  to  look  down  upon 
the  world  as  his  own  ?  Crowns  were  in  his  lap,  to 
dispose  at  will ;  and  if  any  crowned  head  should 
prove  perverse  under  his  discipline,  there  were  ways 
of  getting  rid  of  him.  Ta  hold  the  next  world,  with 
its  rewards  and  punishments,  over  the  heads  of  all 
those  who  dwell  in  this,  with  power  to  distribute  the 
one  to  the  obedient,  and  to  pour  out  the  other  on 
the  disobedient,  is  a  high  prerogative.  Who,  be- 
lieving it,  would  not  fear  such  a  potentate  ?  To 
be  clothed  with  authority  to  denounce  kings  with 
the  vengeance  of  hell,  and  to  absolve  subjects  from 
their  allegiance,  what  more  could  be  asked  for  an 
absolute  and  unlimited  earthly  dominion  ?     Such  were 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      89 

the  rights  claimed,  and  we  have  never  been  advised 
that  they  have  been  surrendered. 

But  it  is  a  part  of  the  genius  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  not  to  push  her  claims  where  she  cannot  carry 
them,  and  to  bide  her  time  for  reasserting  them ;  but 
she  never  surrenders  a  pretension.  She  will  even 
retreat,  when  necessary,  for  the  same  reason  that  a 
general  in  the  field  takes  up  a  new  position  in  rela- 
tion to  a  superior  force.  She  will  violate  her  own 
principles,  under  force,  though  doubtless  with  a  re- 
served protest.  Did  not  the  Pope,  a  prisoner  in  the 
hands  of  Napoleon  I.,  consent  to  his  coronation,  and 
attend  it,  to  put  the  crown  upon  his  head  ?  And  did 
he  not  bestow  his  blessing  on  the  anointed  one,  not- 
withstanding the  Emperor  took  the  crown  from  the 
Pope's  hand,  and  placed  it  on  his  own  head,  thus  de- 
nying the  Pope's  right  ?  The  Emperor  wanted 
nothing  but  the  Pope's  sanction  and  blessing  for  po- 
litical efiect.  And  is  not  the  Pope  again  prisoner 
of  "the  nephew  of  the  uncle"  for  the  same  object? 
Since  the  Reformation,  the  Pope's  power  has  waned, 
and  is  waning  ;  but  so  mighty  a  fabric  does  not  fall 
to  the  ground  in  a  day.  Ever  since  the  European 
mind  began  its  march  towards  freedom,  by  resistance 
to  the  Pope,  there  has  been  a  reluctant  abstinence 
from  some  of  his  claims,  by  holding  them  in  abeyance 
for  more  fit  opportunities.  But  the  genius  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  is  the  same  forever.  There  is  no 
evidence  of  the  shghtest  abatement  in  her  preten- 
sions. They  are  only  in  repose.  She  is  a  body- 
politic,  and  will  advance  or  retreat,  be  loud  or  mute 
in  her   claims,  according  to  the  temper  of  the  world 


40  GENIUS    OF    THE    CHURCH    OF    ROME. 

at  any  given  time,  and  according  to  the  demonstra- 
tions and  poAver  of  her  opponents.  She  has  no  ani- 
];ition  for  martyrdom,  though  she  has  bestowed  that 
honor  on  innumerable  recusants.  In  all  free  coun- 
tries, like  the  United  States,  it  is  only  a  spiritual  and 
paternal  care  that  is  claimed,  with  a  distinct  asser- 
tion, however,  always  put  forward,  of  the  supremacy 
of  the  Pope,  Avhich  may  be  interpreted  at  will,  as  oc- 
casions nia}^  justify.  It  is  not  in  the  genius  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  to  shock  the  prejudices  of  mankind, 
v.'ithout  a  corresponding  benefit.  In  the  history  of 
human  governments,  and  of  human  institutions,  there 
has  not  been  an  example  of  a  more  accommodating 
policy.  In  the  missions  of  the  Church,  paganism  is 
often  mixed  up  Avith  Christianity,  and  sometimes,  and 
for  a  long  period,  is  the  predominant  element.  Pro- 
vided the  supremacy  of  tlie  Pope  be  established,  the 
leaven  of  paganism,  or  any  other  leaven,  may  never 
be  entirely  expurgated.  Of  what  consequence  is 
that  to  a  policy  which  mainly  seeks  the  subjugation 
of  the  world  to  one  Chief;  first,  in  things  spiritual  as 
most  influential,  when  rightly  shaped,  and  charged 
with  suitable  ingredients  for  the  accomplishment  of 
that  end ;  and  next,  in  temporal  and  political  affairs, 
as  may  be  convenient  ?  The  great  principle  of  the 
genius  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  is,  that  spiritual  do- 
minion, or  a  cunning  use  of  the  world  to  come  over 
tlie  minds  of  men,  naturally  absorbs  the  powers  of  this 
world.  All  her  dogmas,  regarding  a  future  state, 
have  been  invented  and  shaped  to  that  end.  When 
that  artifice  fails,  the  Church  will  be  a  failure.  It 
has  been  o-raduallv  failinix  for  more  than  three  centu- 


GENIUS   OF   THE    CHURCH    OF   ROME.  41 

ries,  though  its  hold  on  the  world  is  still  vast,  widely 
comprehensive,  and  not  wanting  in  vigor. 

There  is  another  feature  or  element  in  the  genius 
of  the  Church  of  Rome  of  a  more  startling  character, 
which,  for  its  enormity,  could  hardly  be  credited,  if 
authentic  history  had  not  established  it  as  a  fact.  It 
is  that  the  end  sanctifies  the  means  ;  and  that  the 
most  revolting  crimes,  such  as  murder,  and  assassi- 
nation, and  massacre — of  course  the  lesser  vices  of 
humanity — may  not  only  be  pardoned,  but  justified, 
exalted  even  into  merit,  when  committed  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Church !  Not  to  mention  other  instances 
of  the  kind,  with  which  history  abounds :  take  for 
example  the  wholesale  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's 
day  in  France,  in  1572,  and  the  gunpowder  plot  of 
1G05,  for  the  destruction  of  the  royal  family  and  par- 
liament of  England,  being  Protestant.  The  former 
is  too  well  known  as  a  plot  of  Papacy  to  destroy  the 
Protestants  of  France  in  one  day ;  and  the  latter, 
though  a  failure,  had  for  its  object  the  utter  destruc- 
tfon  of  a  Protestant  royal  house,  and  of  a  Protestant 
parliament,  for  the  substitution  of  a  throne  and  par- 
liament in  England  devoted  to  Papacy.  Besides  the 
conviction  of  the  immediate  complotters,  all  papists, 
subsequent  investigations  appear  to  have  established 
clearly  the  complicity  in  this  atrocity,  of  the  Pope  ;^ 
of  one  Cardinal ;  of  the  General  of  the  Jesuits ;  of 
a  Provincial  of  the  Jesuits,  in  New  Castile ;  of  all 
the  English  Provincial  Jesuits  ;  of  the  Benedictine 
Monks  of  the  Savoy ;  of  about  eighteen  hundred  of 
the  Jesuit  and  seminary  priests  in  England  ;  and  of 

several  English  peers. 

4* 


42  GENIUS    OF   THE   CHURCH    OF   ROME. 

It  is  onlj  necessary  to  adduce  some  examples  of 
the  extraordinary  casuistry  of  the  Jesuit  and  other 
fathers  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  of  established 
authority  among  the  papists,  to  show,  that  these, 
and  other  like  crimes,  committed  in  the  service  of 
the  Church,  on  a  larger  or  smaller  scale,  are  par- 
donable, justifiable,  meritorious.  This  species  of 
casuistry  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  has  long  since 
become  a  distinct  branch  of  science,  and  enlisted  the 
liighest  order  of  talent.  The  writers  are  legion,  and 
would  fill  an  alcove  of  a  public  librar3\  There  are, 
however,  preferred  authorities,  who  have  obtained  a 
more  open  sanction  of  the  Church,  the  leading  one 
of  whom,  not  less  eminent  than  Blackstone  on  English 
Law,  or  Richard  Hooker  on  Ecclesiastical  Law,  is 
Alphonzo  de  Liguori.  Next  to  him  is  Bellarmine, 
whose  work  oa  the  Pontifi"  was  once  condemned 
by  the  Pope,  simply  because  it  "  derogated  from  the 
plenitude  of  the  pontiff's  rights ;  "  but  it  has  since 
been  regularly  sanctioned,  by  being  dropped  from 
the  "  Index  "  of  prohibited  works.  It  is  one  of  the 
highest  authorities.  Without  citing  specifically  from 
these  leading,  and  other  numerous  authorities  on  this 
subject,  which  would  be  tedious,  and  ill  comport 
with  our  necessary  brevity,  we  may  say,  that  there 
is  a  substantial  harmony  among  all  those  which 
have  the  sanction  of  the  Church,  and  that  together, 
they  have  vindicated  the  following  propositions : — 

That  it  is  right  to  burn  heretics,  and  as  binding 
as  abstinence  upon  a  Friday ;  that  all  bonds  with  a 
heretic  are  broken  de  jure,  and  they  may  be  tole- 
rated only  by  necessity;  that  the  brother  is  bound  to 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      43 

denounce  his  brother  if  he  be  a  heretic,  the  child  his 
father,  the  T\ife  a  husband  ;  that  unreasoning  submis- 
sion to  the  authorities  of  the  Church,  in  morals  and 
in  faith,  is  a  duty ;  that  that  is  morally  good  which 
the  sovereign  Pontiff  commands,  and  that  morally 
evil  which  he  forbids;  that  blind  obedience  is  the 
highest  practice  of  Christian  virtue ;  that  faith  in  a 
priest  absolves  from  all  responsibility  in  following 
his  advice,  though  it  be  murder  or  any  other  crime  ; 
that  incontinence  in  the  clergy  is  preferable  to 
marriage,  and  that  unless  it  becomes  public  and 
occasion  scandal,  it  is  not  censurable  ;*  that  one 
may  never  question  the  right  or  wrong  of  a  priest's 
instructions  and  commands  ;  that  every  person  should 
give  the  entire  charge  of  his  soul  to  a  priest ;  that  a 
husband,  a  father,  a  king,  or  any  other  person,  may 
be  killed  by  their  respective  correlatives,  under 
instruction,  without  incurring  guilt ;  that  probability 
gathered  from  recognized  authorities  of  the  Church, 
may  solve  all  questions  of  conscience,  and  the 
opinion  of  an  unrepudiated  theologian  makes  a 
probability  ;  that  personal  conviction  of  the  unlaw- 
fulness of  an  action  is  no  bar  to  its  being  lawfully 
enjoined  by  a  pi-iest,  or  virtuously  perpetrated  by 
his  penitent ;  that,  if  occasion  be  urgent,  one  may 
perpetrate  a  doubtful  act  first,  and  find  his  authority 
afterwards ;  that  one  may  choose  a  priest  for  the 

«  It  is  a  somevrLat  remarkable  fact,  that  a  priest  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  is  never  required  by  his  Bishop  to  take  a  vow  of  chas- 
tity. His  celibacy  is  alleged  to  be  a  matter  of  discipline,  and  is 
no  farther  law  than  custom  makes  it  so.  Why  should  not  the 
corresponding  part  of  discipline,  the  duty  of  chastity,  be  enforced  ? 


44  GENIUS    OF   THE    CnURCII    OF   ROME. 

purpose  of  .authorizing  a  crime  ;  that  perjury  is  a 
duty  binding  on  all  men  under  certain  circumstances, 
to  be  judged  of  by  the  person  who  is  perjured  ;  that 
one  may  swear  with  equivocation ;  that,  in  certain* 
circumstances,  it  is  right  to  anticipate  the  attack  of 
an  enemy,  by  killing  him  unawares ;  that  the  right 
to  rule  over  conscience  results  from  the  right  to  rule 
the  state ;  that  the  abstinence  of  the  sovereign 
Pontiff  from  the  rule  of  states,  is  a  necessity,  not 
want  of  right ;  that  this  right  is  divine,  and  can 
never  expire ;  that  the  rights  of  the  Pontiff  neces- 
sarily cover  all  things  temporal ;  that  Pontifical 
rights  are  in  the  office,  not  in  the  locum  tenens, 
except  in  transitu,  and  consequently  can  never  be 
surrendered  or  qualified ;  that  the  same  principle 
applies  to  the  priesthood  in  all  its  degrees  and 
diversities ;  in  short,  that  there  is  no  power  over 
this  world  or  the  next,  so  far  as  man  is  interested  in 
either,  Avhich  does  not,  jure  divino,  vest  in  the 
Roman  Pontiff;  and  no  act,  commonly  called  crime, 
and  stamped  and  punished  as  such  by  the  legislation 
of  the  civilized  world,  which  may  not  be  committed, 
if  authorized  by  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  for 
a  purpose  which  he  may  think  meritorious  !  Jt  is 
the  end  that  justifies  the  means  ! 

These  specimens  of  casuistry  might  be  greatly 
extended,  for  there  is  no  act  marked  by  the  penal 
code  of  the  civilized  world,  which  is  not  vindicated 
in  given  circumstances,  specifically  or  by  implication. 
This  task  has  for  centuries  been  a  distinct  vocation 
in  the  higher  walks  of  mind  in  the  Church  of  Rome, 
Avhere  the  greatest  ingenuity  and  subtlety  of  reason- 


GEXIUS    OF    THE    ClIUKCU    OF    ROME.  45 

ing  have  been  exhausted,  and  one  of  the  high 
functions  of  the  Church  has  been  to  declare  its 
approbation  or  disapprobation  of  these  efforts,  until 
the  approved  works  have  become  numerous,  and  no 
small  part  of  a  ■vvell  furnished  library  in  that  Church. 
Not  a  Jesuit,  probably,  can  be  found  in  the  -world, 
Avho  has  not  a  manual  of  these  doctrines  in  his 
pocket  for  his  guidance.  One  could  hardly  see  the 
use  of  a  Bible  in  such  a  case  to  declare  what  is  right 
'and  what  is  wrong.  It  might  embarrass  conscience. 
But  a  compendious  view  of  these  doctrines  which 
make  wrong  right,  and  determine  what  crimes  may 
be  committed,  what  immoralities  may  be  practised, 
and  what  vices  may  be  indulged  in,  in  given  circum- 
stances and  for  given  objects,  would  seem  to  be  very 
necessary  for  those  whose  function  it  is  to  authorize 
them.* 

*  It  is  not  usual,  Tre  believe,  to  find  a  priest  of  Rome  with  a 
Bible  in  Lis  pocket  or  trunk.  We  had  occasion  once,  being  a  fel- 
low-passenger -with  a  Bishop  of  the  Church  of  Fvome,  on  the  sea, 
to  appeal  to  his  own  copy  of  the  Scriptures,  to  prove  from  the 
original  publication  of  the  Decalogue,  that  his  Church  had 
dropped  the  second  commandment,  and  divided  the  tenth  ;  of  which 
— strange  to  say — he  appeared  to  be  ignorant !  For,  at  our  re- 
quest, he  had  just  recited  the  Decalogue,  as  they  read  it,  with  the 
above  named  omission  and  change,  putting  the  third  in  the  place 
of  the  second  commandment ;  and  ho  did  it  with  perfect  compo- 
sure, as  if  it  were  all  right.  We  appealed  to  his  own  Bible.  lie 
had  none  with  him  !  Being  a  modest  man,  he  blushed,  and  was 
much  embarrassed.  The  subject  was  necessarily  dropped.  We 
have  encountered  another  instance  of  the  same  kind,  iu  the  case 
of  a  highly  accomplished  gentleman,  who  had  been  educated  for 
the  Church,  but  afterwards  went  into  the  sei'vice  of  the  State,  as 
an  ambassador  at  Washington.  We  know  not  whether  he  was  a 
Jesuit.    At  our  request  he  recited  the  Decalogue ;  and  it  was  given 


46  GENIUS    OF   THE   CHURCH    OF    ROME. 

The  Jesuitical  casuists,  says  Moslicim,  teach,  "that 
a  bad  man  Avho  is  an  entire  stranger  to  the  love  of 
God,  provided  he  feels  sonie  fear  of  the  Divine  wrath, 
and  from  dread  of  punishment  avoids  grosser  crimes, 
is  a  fit  candidate  for  eternal  salvation ;  that  men 
may  sin  with  safety,  provided  they  have  a  probable 
reason  for  the  sin ;  that  is,  some  argument  or  autho- 
rity in  favor  of  it ;  that  actions  in  themselves  wrong, 
and  contrary  to  the  Divine  law,  are  allowable,  pro- 
vided a  person  can  control  his  own  mind,  and  in  his 
thoughts  connect  a  good  end  with  the  criminal  deed; 
or,  as  they  express  it,  knows  how  to  direct  his  inten- 
tion right;  i\\dui  pldlosophical  sins,  that  is,  actions 
which  are  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature  and  to  right 
reason,  in  a  person  ignorant  of  the  written  law  of 
God,  or  dubious  as  to  its  true  meaning,  are  light 
oflFences,  and  do  not  deserve  the  punishment  of  hell ; 
that  the  deeds  a  man  commits,  when  wholly  blinded 
by  his  lusts  and  the  paroxysms  of  passion,  and  when 
destitute  of  all  sense  of  religion,  though  they  be  of 
the  vilest  and  most  execrable  character,  can  by  no 
means  be  charged  to  his  account  in  the  judgment  of 
God,  because  such  a  man  is  like  a  madman ;  that  it 
is  right  for  a  man,  when  taking  an  oath,  or  forming 
a  contract,  in  order  to  deceive  the  judge,  or  subvert 

fis  above  by  the  Bishop.  lie  never  knew  the  Decalogue,  as  ori- 
ginally published,  till  we  showed  it  to  him  ;  and  he  knew  not  what 
to  say.  Being,  as  we  suspected,  an  infidel,  he  didn't  seem  to 
care  ;  but  he  was  perfectly  honest  in  his  giving  out  of  the  Deca- 
logue, and  regarded  it  as  the  true  copy.  These  facts,  perhaps, 
may  show  the  extreme  care  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  to  keep  her 
educated  men  within  certain  limits,  as  to  the  information  they 
are  permitted  to  acquire. 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      47 

tlie  validity  of  an  oath,  tacitly  to  add  something  to 
the  words  of  the  compact  or  the  oath."  (Mosheim, 
Book  IV.  Cent.  XVII.  Sect.  II.  Part.  I.  Chap.  I. 
§  34.)  Mosheim  acknoAvledges,  that  some  of  the 
Popes,  in  deference  to  opinion,  have  been  forced  to 
rebuke  these  doctrines  ;  but  adds :  "  The  reason  as- 
signed, "why  so  many  kings  and  princes,  and  persons 
of  every  rank  and  sex,  committed  the  care  of  their 
souls  to  the  Jesuits  especially,  is,  that  such  confessors, 
by  their  precepts,  extenuated  the  guilt  of  sin,  flat- 
tered the  criminal  passions  of  men,  and  opened  an 
easy  and  convenient  way  to  heaven." 

Surely  it  is  not  a  question  whether  these  things 
be  so,  when  the  whole  subject  is  reduced  to  a  science, 
and  when  the  shelves  of  the  libraries  of  Rome  groan 
with  the  most  elaborate  expository  authorities  on 
these  topics.  There  they  stand,  patent  to  all  the 
world,  and  not  a  blush  is  seen  on  the  cheeks  of  the 
authors  of  these  works,  or  of  the  students,  or  of  the 
advocates  of  these  doctrines.  To  write  these  volumes 
was  a  high  and  honorable  vocation,  and  to  be  versed 
in  them  is  a  necessary  qualification  to  serve  the 
Church.  The  facts  of  history  illustrating  these  doc- 
trines, are  not  wanting  ;  but  the  long  line  of  many 
centuries  is  crowded  with  them.  How  many  kings 
and  princes  have  fallen  victims ;  how  many  states 
hju'e  been  revolutionized ;  how  many  families  have 
been  divided  and  ruined ;  and  how  many  last  wills 
and  testaments  of  the  rich  have  been  destroyed  or 
controlled  by  this  species  of  influence !  Testamentary 
acts  are  one  of  its  great  harvest  fields,  in  all  ages, 
and  in  all  countries,  as  it  is  one  where  the  laws  of 


48  GE2JIUS    OF   THE    CHURCH    OF   ROME. 

society  on  this  subject  can  most  easily  be  evaded. 
The  power  of  the  Church  of  Rome  over  the  dying  is 
absolute,  and  is  never  allowed  to  sleep  on  such  occa- 
sions.* 

*  The  following  are  passages  selected  from  the  Canon  law  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  by  Archbishop  Cranmcr,  under  Henry  tho 
Eighth,  to  show  the  necessity  of  a  Reformation  :  — 

"He  that  acknowledgethnot  himself  to  be  iinder  the  Bishop  of 
Rome,  and  that  the  Bishop  of  Rome  is  ordained  by  God  to  have 
primacy  over  all  the  world,  is  an  heretic,  and  cannot  be  saved, 
nor  is  of  the  flock  of  Christ. 

"  Princes'  laws,  if  they  be  against  the  canons  and  decrees  of 
the  Bishop  of  Rome,  be  of  no  force  nor  strength. 

"  All  the  decrees  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  ought  to  be  kept  perpet- 
ually by  ever}'  man,  without  any  repugnance,  as  God's  word  spoken 
by  the  mouth  of  Peter ;  and  Avhosoever  doth  not  receive  them, 
neither  availeth  them  the  catholic  faith,  nor  the  four  evangelists  ; 
but  they  blaspheme  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  shall  have  no  forgiveness. 

"  All  kings,  bishops,  and  noblemen,  that  believe  or  suflFer  the 
Bishop  of  Rome's  decrees  in  any  thing  to  be  violate,  be  accursed, 
and  forever  culpable  before  God,  as  transgressors  of  the  catholic 
faith. 

•'  The  See  of  Rome  hath  neither  spot,  nor  wrinkle  in  it,  and 
cannot  err., 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  is  not  bound  to  any  decrees,  but  he  may 
compel,  as  well  the  clergy  as  laymen,  to  receive  his  decrees  and 
canon  law. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  hath  authority  to  judge  all  men,  and  spe- 
cially to  discern  (decree  or  judge)  the  articles  of  the  faith,  and 
that  without  any  council,  and  may  assoil  them  that  the  council 
hath  damned ;  but  no  man  hath  authority  to  judge  him,  or  to  med- 
dle with  any  thing  that  he  hath  judged,  neither  emperor,  king, 
people,  nor  the  clergy ;  and  it  is  not  lawful  for  any  man  to  dis- 
pute of  his  power. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  may  excommunicate  emperors  and 
princes,  depose  them  from  their  seats,  and  assoil  their  subjects 
from  their  oath  and  obedience  to  them,  and  so  constrain  them  to 
rebellion. 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      49 

The  shock  given  to  the  power  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  by  the  Reformation,  the  public  exposures  of 

'•  The  emperor  is  the  Bishop  ofRome's  subject,  aud  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  may  revoke  the  emperor's  sentence  in  temporal  causes. 

"  It  belongeth  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  to  allow  or  disallow  the 
emperor,  after  he  is  elected,  and  he  may  translate  the  empire 
from  one  region  to  another. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  may  appoint  coadjutors  unto  princes. 
"  There  can  be  no  council  of  bishops,  without  the  authority 
of  the  See  of  Rome. 

"Nothing  may  be  done  against  him,  that  appealeth  unto 
Rome. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  may  be  judged  of  none,  but  of  God  only ; 
for,  although  he  neither  regard  his  own  salvation,  nor  any  man's 
else,  but  draw  down  with  himself  innumerable  people  into  hell ; 
yet  may  no  mortal  man  in  this  world  presume  to  reprehend  him ; 
forasmuch  as  he  is  called  God,  he  may  not  be  judged  of  man,  for 
God  maybe  judged  of  no  man. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  may  open  and  shut  heaven  unto  man. 
"  He  that  maketh  a  lie  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  commiteth  sac- 
rilege. 

"  It  appertaineth  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  to  judge  which  oaths 
shall  be  kept,  and  which  not ;  and  he  may  absolve  subjects  from 
their  oath  of  fidelity,  and  absolve  from  other  oaths  that  ought  to 
be  kept. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  is  judge  in  temporal  things,  and  hath 
two  swords,  spiritual  and  temporal. 

"The  Bishop  of  Rome  may  give  authority  to  arrest  men,  and 
imprison  them  in  manacles  and  fetters. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Rome  may  compel  princes  to  receive  his 
legates.  It  belongeth  also  to  him  to  appoint  and  command  peace 
and  truce  to  be  observed  and  kept,  or  not. 

"  LajTnen  may  not  be  judges  to  any  of  the  clergy,  nor  compel 
them  to  pay  their  debts ;  but  the  bishops  only  must  be  their 
judges.  Rectors  of  Churches  may  convent  such  as  do  them  wrong, 
whither  they  will,  before  a  spiritual  judge  or  temporal ;  but  one 
of  the  clergy  may  not  commit  his  cause  to  a  temporal  judge,  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  bishop. 

5 


60      GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

her  enormities,  then  and  since  made,  and  the  great 
progress  of  freedom  in  the  "world,  have  greatly  modi- 

"  All  that  make  or  ■\vrito  any  statutes  contrary  to  the  rights 
of  the  Church  ;  and  all  princes,  rulers,  and  counsellors,  where 
such  statutes  be  made,  or  such  customs  observed  ;  and  all  the 
judges  and  others  that  put  the  same  in  execution,  and  who  put 
them  not  out  of  their  books,  be  excommunicate  ;  and  that  so 
grievously,  that  they  cannot  be  assoiled,  except  by  the  Bishop  of 
Rome.  / 

"  Laymen  may  not  meddle  with  elections  of  the  clergy,  nor 
with  any  other  thing  that  belongcth  unto  them. 

"  The  clergy  ought  to  give  no  oath  of  fidelity  to  their  temporal 
governors,  except  they  hold  temporalities  of  them, 

"  Princes  ought  to  obey  bishops,  and  the  decrees  of  the  Church, 
and  to  submit  their  heads  unto  the  bishops,  and  not  to  judge  over 
the  bishops ;  for  the  bishops  ought  to  be  forborne,  and  to  be 
Judged  of  no  layman. 

"  All  manner  of  causes,  whatsoever  they  be,  spiritual  or  tem- 
poral, ought  to  be  determined  and  judged  by  the  clergy. 

"  Whoever  teacheth  or  thinketh  of  the  sacraments  otherwise 
than  the  See  of  Rome  doth  teach  and  obsex-ve,  and  all  they  that 
the  same  See  doth  judge  heretics,  be  excommunicate.  And  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  may  compel  by  an  oath  all  rulers  and  other  peo- 
ple to  observe,  and  cause  to  be  observed,  whatsoever  the  See  of 
Rome  shall  ordain  conce-rning  heresy,  and  the  fautors  thereof; 
and  whosoever  will  not  obey,  he  may  deprive  them  of  their  digni- 
ties. 

"  We  ordain  remission  of  sin,  by  observing  of  certain  fasts,  and 
certain  pilgrimages  in  the  Jubilee,  and  other  prescribed  times,  by 
virtue  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome's  pardons. 

"Whoever  ofifendeth  the  rights  of  the  Church,  or  doth  violate 
any  interdiction  that  cometh  from  Rome,  or  conspireth  against 
the  person  or  statute  of  the  Bishop  or  See  of  Rome  ;  or  by  any 
ways  ofifendeth,  disobeyeth,  or  rebelleth  against  the  said  Bishoi> 
or  See,  or  that  killeth  a  priest,  or  ofifendeth  personally  against  a 
bishop  or  other  prelate;  or  invadeth,  spoileth,  withholdeth,  or 
wasteth  lands  belonging  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  or  any  other 
church  immediately  sulyect  to  the  same  ;  or  whosoever  invadoth 


GENIUS   OF   THE   CHURCU    OF   ROxMB.  51 

fied  her  policy.     Instead  of  controlling  the  powers 
of  Europe  by  the  open  demonstrations  of  her  influ- 

any  pilgrims  tliat  go  to  Rome,  or  that  let  the  devolution  of  causes 
unto  that  coux-t,  or  that  put  any  new  charges  or  impositions,  real  or 
personal,  upon  any  Church  or  ecclesiastical  person ;  and  gener- 
ally, all  other  that  offend  in  the  cases  contained  in  the  bull,  which 
is  usually  published  by  the  Bishops  of  Kome  upon  Maundy 
Thursday  ; — all  these  can  be  assoiled  by  no  priest,  bishop,  arch- 
_^bishop,  nor  by  any  other  but  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  or  by  his 
express  license. 

"  He  is  no  manslayer  that  slayeth  a  man  that  is  excommuni- 
cate." [Burnet's  Ilislory  of  the  Reformation  Records,  Part  I. 
Book  III.) 

We  understand,  as  indicated  by  the  stj'le,  that  the  above  cited 
passages,  are  condensed  statements  in  the  ai'chbishop's  own  lan- 
guage. They  are  undoubtedly  truthful,  as  at  the  head  of  each, 
he  refers  to  the  authoritative  documents.  As  ■will  be  seen,  they 
agree  Avell  with  the  summary  propositions,  which  we  have  con- 
densed on  pages  42,  43,  and  44,  only  that  they  are  somewhat  more 
remarkable  in  several  particulars.  And  it  is  to  be  observed,  that 
they  were  not  only  parts  of  the  canon  law  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
at  that  time,  some  three  centuries  ago  ;  but  that  they  are  now 
and  ever  so. 

It  may  be  pertinent  here  to  present  a  copy  of  the  oath  of  a 
Bishop  or  Abbot  of  the  Chuixh  of  Rome,  by  which  he  swears  alle- 
giance to  the  Pope.  The  one  here  given  was  used  in  Heni'y  the 
Eighth's  time. 

The   Oath  of  a  Bishop    or   Abbot  to  the  Pope. 

*'  I,  John,  Bishop  or  Abbot  of  A,  from  this  hour  foi'ward,  shall 
be  faithful  and  obedient  to  St.  Peter,  and  to  the  Holy  Church  of 
Rome,  and  to  my  lord,  the  Pope,  and  to  his  successors  canoni- 
cally  entering.  I  shall  not  be  of  counsel,  nor  consent  that  they 
shall  lose  either  life  or  member,  or  shall  be  taken  or  suffer  any 
violence  or  any  wrong  by  any  means.  Their  counsel  to  me  in- 
dited by  them,  their  messengers  or  letters,  I  shall  not  willingly 
discover  to  any  person.  The  papacy  of  Rome,  the  rules  of  the 
holy  fathers,   and  the  regality  of  St.  Peter,   I  shall  keep,   and 


52      GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

ence,  she  has  been  forced  to  resort  to  secret  machina- 
tions, and  to  bide  her  time  for  more  energetic  efforts. 

maintain,  and  defend  against  all  men.  The  legate  of  the  See 
Apostolic,  going  and  coming,  I  shall  honorably  entreat.  The  rights, 
honors,  privileges,  and  authorities  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
of  the  Pope  and  his  successors,  I  shall  cause  to  be  conserved, 
defended,  augmented,  and  promoted.  I  shall  not  be  in  any  coun- 
sel, treaty,  or  any  act  in  the  -which  any  thing  shall  be  imagined 
against  him  or  the  Church  of  Rome,  their  rights,  seats,  honors, 
or  powers.  And  if  I  know  any  such  to  be  moved  or  compassed, 
I  shall  resist  it  to  my  power,  and  as  soon  as  I  can,  I  shall  adver- 
tise him,  or  such  as  may  give  him  knowledge.  The  rules  of  the 
holy  fathers,  the  decrees,  ordinances,  sentences,  dispositions,  re- 
servations, provisions,  and  commandments  apostolic,  to  my  power 
I  shall  keep  and  cause  to  be  kept  by  others.  Heretics,  schisma- 
tics, and  rebels  to  our  holy  father  and  his  successors,  I  shall  re- 
sist and  persecute  to  my  power.  I  shall  come  to  the  Synod  when 
I  am  called,  except  I  be  letted  by  a  canonical  impediment.  The 
thresholds  of  the  Apostles,  I  shall  visit  yearly,  personally,  or  by 
my  deputy.  I  shall  not  alienate  or  sell  my  possessions  without 
the  Pope's  counsel.     So  God  help  me  and  the  Holy  Evangelists." 

Dr.  Barrow,  in  his  "  Treatise  on  the  Pope's  Supremacy,"  gives 
the  form  of  a  bishop's  oath  of  allegiance,  as  ordered  by 
Clement  VIII.,  much  more  in  detail,  and  more  comprehensive  than 
the  above. 

The  following  are  excerpts  from  the  Introduction  of  Dr.  Bar- 
row's Treatise : — 

"  If  he,"  the  Pope,  "  charge  us  (papists)  to  hold  no  commu- 
nion with  our  prince,  to  renounce  our  allegiance  to  him,  to  abandon 
and  persecute  him,  even  unto  death,  we  must  in  duty  obey.  .  .  . 
They,"  the  Popes,  "  could  do  all  things,  whatever  they  pleased  ; 
yea,  and  things  unlawful ;  and  so  could  do  more  than  God.  .  . 
To  them  is  given  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth.  .  .  .  There 
can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  civil  principality  is  subject  to  the 
sacerdotal."  The  bull  of  Pope  Sixtus  V.  (1585),  against  Henry, 
King  of  Navai-re,  and  the  prince  of  Conde,  saith:  "The  autho- 
rity given  to  St.  Peter  and  his  successors,  by  the  Eternal  King, 
excels  all  the  powers  of  earthly  kings  and  princes.     It  passes  un- 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      53 

But  she  still  knows  how  to  control  even  the  rampant 
democracy  of  the  European  States,  by  forming 
alliances  with  it,  and  by  pushing  it  forward  to  in- 
evitable overthrow.  For  a  month  and  a  day,  Pius 
IX.  was  a  democrat ;  but  turned  short  about,  and 
left  them  to  their  own  destruction.  There  was  a 
pubhc  meeting  in  the  city  of  New  York,  to  glorify 
the  Pope's  conversion  to  democracy ;  but  it  had 
hardly  adjourned,  when  the  Pope,  in  an  Allocution 
to  his  Cardinals,  said,  that  "  he  had  taken  this  prin- 
ciple for  basis,  that  the  Catholic  religion,  with  all  its 
rights,  ought  to   be  exclusively  dominant,  in  such 

controllable  sentence  on  them  all.  We  deprive  them"  (the  said 
Henry  and  prince  of  Conde)  "and  their  posterity  forever  of  their 
dominions  and  kingdoms.  By  these  presents  we  absolve  and  set 
free  all  persons  "  (their  subjects)  "  from  their  allegiance,  and 
forbid  all  to  obey  them,  or  any  of  their  laws  or  commands."  Pope 
Innocent  the  Third  said: — "The  Pontifical  authority  exceeds 
the  temporal,  as  the  Sun  doth  the  moon."  In  a  bull  of  Gregory 
VII.  it  is  written  : — "  For  the  dignity  and  defence  of  God's  Holy 
Church,  in  the  name  of  Almighty  God,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  I  depose  from  imperial  and  royal  administration, 
King  Henry,  son  of  Henry  sometime  emperor,"  &c. 

"  This  doctrine  of  the  Popes  universal  power  over  all  persons, 
in  all  matters,  may  naturally  be  supposed  the  sentiment  of  all 
popes  for  more  than  500  years,  imto  the  present  day." 

For  the  first  six  centuries,  or  more,  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and 
all  other  bishops,  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  Emperors, 
and  the  grand  councils  of  tlxj  Church  were  convoked  and  super- 
vised by  them.  See  Dr.  Barrow's  Treatise,  Supposition,  VI.  "The 
Bishops  of  Rome,"  says  Mosheim,  in  his  history  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, "  paid  homage  to  the  Roman  Emperors,  in  a  submissive 
manner ;  for  they  had  not  yet  become  so  lost  to  shame,  as  to 
look  upon  temporal  sovereigns  as  their  vassals."  Again  says 
Mosheim,  "After  the  ninth  century,  the  Bishops  of  Rome 
assumed  the  exclusive  right  to  be  vicars  of  Christ." 

5* 


54  GENIUS    OF   THE    CHURCH    OF    llOME.^ 

sort,  that  every  other  worship  shall  be  banished  and 
interdicted,"  He  also  said,  in  the  same  Allocution, 
that,  by  ecclesiastical  liberty  is  meant  "  the  free  ex- 
ercise of  their  proper  Episcopal  jurisdiction  by  the 
Bishops ;"  and  as  the  Church  of  Rome  always  falls 
back  on  her  established  authorities,  if  pertinent  to 
her  purpose,  though  forgotten  by  the  world,  it  will  be 
found,  by  a  decision  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  that 
this  " j!?roper Episcopal  jurisdiction"  reaches  to  all 
civil  officers,  and  includes  "  the  right,  if  it  be  judged 
expedient,  to  proceed  against  all  persons  whatsoever, 
by  means  of  pecuniary  fines,  by  distress  upon  the 
goods  or  arrest  of  the  person,  and  if  there  be  contu- 
macy, by  smiting  with  the  sword  of  Anathema." 
So  much  for  the  democracy  of  Pius  IX.  If  required, 
he  will  crown  Napoleon  III.,  as  Pius  VII.  did  Napo- 
leon I.,  and  if  expedient,  protest  afterwards,  that  it 
was  done  under  force. 

The  Church  of  Rome  must  march  straight  for- 
ward. The  momentum  of  her  destiny  is  irresistible. 
There  is  no  cure  for  her  faults,  they  are  so  many,  so 
deeply  rooted,  so  all-pervading.  They  are  not  the 
accidents  of  her  being,  but  the  very  soul,  the  genius 
of  the  institution.  The  good  men  within  her  pale — ■ 
for  doubtless  there  are  good  men,  even  there — know 
there  is  no  cure.  The  Cardinal  Prefect  of  the  Pro- 
paganda once  said,  on  a  complaint  of  some  of  these 
enormities  being  made  to  him  :  "  I  know  it,  I  know 
it  all,  and  more,  and  worse  than  all.  But  nothing 
can  he  done.''  It  is  the  system  that  produces  such 
results.  "  Can  a  corrupt  tree  bring  forth  good 
fruit  ?" 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OP  ROME.      55 

Surely,  if  any  thing,  in  all  history,  has  been 
worthy  of  prophecy,  it  is  this  stupendous  phenome- 
non. It  should  be  observed,  that  inspired  prophecy, 
in  opening  the  chapters  of  future  history,  selects 
only  those  great  subjects,  -which  are  to  have  influence 
on  the  destinies  of  mankind.  Not  in  all  the  world 
has  such  a  gigantic  social  fabric  ever  appeared,  with 
such  pretensions,  of  such  vast  influence,  and  of  such 
tenacious  endurance,  as  the  Church  of  Rome.  It 
has  this  pre-eminence,  that  it  overshadows  two 
worlds,  the  present  and  the  future  ;  and  this  advan- 
tage, that  it  employs  the  future  and  unknown  world, 
giving  it  shape,  substance,  and  potency,  suiting  its 
purposes,  to  subjugate  the  present.  How  can  we 
believe  that  prophecy  ever  had  a  vision  of  the  future, 
if  it  did  not  see  this,  the  greatest  and  most  amazing 
of  all  ?  And  where  do  we  find  it  ?— "  Now  the  Spirit 
speaketh  expressly,  that  in  the  latter  days,  some 
shall  depart  from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  seducing 
spirits,  and  doctrines  of  devils,  speaking  lies  in  hy- 
pocrisy, having  their  conscience  seared  with  a  hot 
iron,  forbidding  to  marry,  and  commanding  to  abstain 
from  meats."  (1  Tim.  iv.  1 — 3.)  Besides  the  other 
marks,  so  clearly  distinguishable  here,  as  applicable  to 
the  Church  of  Rome,  the  celibacy  of  her  clergy  identi- 
fies the  picture  with  the  subject  by  a  most  indubitable 
sign — a  sign  that  can  find  no  other  type  in  all  his- 
tory of  sufficient  importance  to  be  the  subject  of  pro- 
phetic notice.  Again  :  "  Let  no  man  deceive  you  ; 
for  that  day  shall  not  come,  except  there  come  a 
falling  away  first,  and  that  man  of  sin  be  revealed, 


56      GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

the  son  of  perdition,  who  opposeth  and  exalteth  him- 
self above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  wor- 
shipped, so  that  he  as  God  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God, 
showing  himself  that  he  is  God."  (2  Thess.  ii.  3,  4.) 
Is  not  the  Pope  of  Rome  exalted  above  all  the  gods  of 
the  heathen  ?  Does  he  not  sit  in  the  Church  of  Saint 
Peter  as  God,  and  does  he  not  claim  and  receive  reli- 
gious homage  there  ?  Does  he  not  claim  to  forgive  sins, 
the  prerogative  of  God  alone  ?  Does  he  not  claim  to 
open  and  shut  the  door  of  heaven  to  whom  he  will,  and 
to  send  to  hell  those  who  will  not  obey  him  ?  And  can 
this  prophecy  be  applied  to  any  other  character  in 
all  history  ?  Then,  clearly,  the  Church  of  Rome  and 
the  Pope  of  Rome  are  here  designated.  And  again  : 
"  And  I  saw  a  woman  sit  upon  a  scarlet-colored 
beast,  full  of  names  of  blasphemy,  having  seven 
heads  and  ten  horns.  And  the  woman  was  arrayed 
in  purple  and  scarlet  color,  and  decked  with  gold, 
and  precious  stones,  and  pearls,  having  a  golden  cup 
in  her  hand  full  of  abominations  and  filthiness  of  her 
fornication.  And  upon  her  forehead  was  a  name 
written.  Mystery,  Babylon  the  Great,  the  mother  of 
harlots,  and  abominations  of  the  earth.  And  I  saw 
the  woman  drunken  with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and 
with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus."  (Rev.  xvii.  3- 
6.)  This,  indeed,  is  a  strong  picture ;  but  who,  believing 
in  inspired  prophecy,  as  a  mode  of  instructing  mankind, 
will  deny,  that  it  finds  a  veritable  type  in  the  Church 
of  Rome  ?  And  where  else,  in  the  range  of  history, 
can  the  type  be  found  ?  The  history  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  as  we  have  found  it  in  this  brief  chapter, 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      57 

is  a  sufficient  verification  of  these  prophetic  records, 
and  others  of  the  kind,* 

To  suppose,  that  the  polity  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
should  be  from  God,  and  have  his  sanction,  is  not 
less  preposterous,  than  to  suppose,  that  the  most 
subtle  and  most  comprehensive  device  of  the  grand 
adversary  of  God  and  man,  that  was  ever  developed 
on  earth,  should  have  the  same  source  and  the  same 
sanction.  That  the  Church  of  Rome  is  a  body  poli- 
tic, and  that  she  aims  at  political  sway  over  all 
nations — a  sway  entire,  absolute,  unlimited,  and 
embittered,  exasperated  by  the  Inquisition,  and  by 
the  fires  of  hell  flashing  in  the  face  of  all  opponents — 
no  one,  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  become  acquaint- 
ed with  the  principles  of  her  polity,  and  with  her 
history,  can  fail  to  see  ;  and  how  she  governs  politi- 
cally, let  the  history  of  all  the  states  she  has  ever 
had  under  her  dominion,  and  the  present  condition 
of  the  estates  of  the  Church  in  Italy,  show.  It  may 
be  of  some  consequence  to  the  lovers  of  freedom  in 
Italy  and  elsewhere ;  but  they  are  sinners  and 
damned  in  the  eye  of  the  priesthood  that  governs 
them  ;  and  in  the  judgment  of  the  priests,  it  is  doubt- 
less most  befitting,  that  these  recreants  should  have 
a  little  taste  of  damnation  here  on  earth.  Can  they 
who  deal  in  such  penalties  as  a  vocation,  sympathize 
with  these  refractory  spirits,  who  are  only  arrested 
Avithout  knowing  for  what ;  who  are  only  tried  and 
condemned  without  a  jury,  without  an  advocate,  and 

*  See  Wordsworth's  "  Hulscan  Lectures  on  the  Apocalypse," 
Lecture  XIL,  for  full  and  complete  evidence  of  the  identity  of 
the  Apocalyptic  Babylon  and  the  Church  of  Rome. 


58    asNirs  of  the  church  of  rome. 

without  law,  except  ■what  springs  up  in  the  breast  of 
the  court  at  the  time ;  who  are  only  immured  in  a 
dungeon,  never,  perhaps,  to  see  the  light  of  the  sun 
again,  or  be  heard  of;  who  are  only  put  to  the  tor- 
ture to  get  some  truth  out  of  them,  and  who  must 
say  something,  true  or  false,  for  present  relief;  and 
who  only  go  to  their  merited  doom  in  hell  by  means 
so  far  short  of  their  deservings  ?  Are  such  sinners 
to  have  sympathy  for  what  they  call  a  deprivation 
of  freedom,  but  which  is  administered  for  political 
eflFect  on  others,  and  for  a  salutary  discipline  over 
their  own  souls,  if  they  shall  repent  in  season  to  be 
rescued,  and  if  they  have  left  no  estates  worth  hav- 
ing ?  A  little  punishment  here,  will,  peradventure, 
fit  them  for  their  eternal  Punishment  hereafter. 

It  is  the  GENIUS  of  the  Church  of  Rome  that  pro- 
duces these  results,  and  such  forever  will  be  its  fruits. 
It  can  have  no  other,  as  the  legitimate  result  of  her 
polity,  but  only  in  spite  of  that  polity.  And  by  this 
last  remark  we  intend  to  allow,  that  there  is  good  in 
the  Church  of  Rome ;  that  men  may  get  to  heaven 
from  that  Church ;  that  great  and  good  men  have 
lived  and  died-  in  her  communion ;  that  thousands, 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  penitent  and  believing 
souls  have  found  the  bread  of  life  there ;  and  that 
there  is  always  enough  of  Evangelical  truth  in  that 
Church  to  save  tliose  who  trust  in  it.  The  Pope  and 
his  hierarchy  could  never  have  succeeded  in  practis- 
ing such  wrong  on  the  world,  if  they  had  not  had 
enough  of  the  Bible,  and  enough  of  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel,  to  satisfy  really  penitent  souls,  and  deceive 
sincere  inquirers  after  the  way  of  salvation.     It  mat- 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      69 

ters  not  with  them  -whether  men  go  to  heaven  oi-  to 
hell,  if  they  are  obedient  to  the  hierarchy ;  and  the 
Church  must  have  aliment  to  satisfy  the  taste  of  all. 
While  the  priests  are  hypocritical,  some  of  the  peo- 
ple may  be  true  and  penitent,  and  no  doubt  as  sin- 
cere worshippers  may  be  found  in  the  Church  of 
Rome  as  any  where  else.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
truly  godly  men  have  been  found,  and  are  still  found, 
in  the  ranks  of  her  priesthood.  But  these  are  the 
exceptions,  and  not  the  rule ;  and  true  Christiana 
in  that  Church  are  saved  by  God's  mercy,  and  not  as 
the  effect,  and  by  the  fidelity  of  her  administrations. 
The  polity  of  the  Church  is  forever  the  same  device 
of  man,  erected  and  administered  for  the  attainment 
of  power  over  men,  by  whatever  means  will  most 
effectually  secure  that  end,  whether  it  be  real  piety,  or 
unmitigated  vice.  The  reason  why  the  Church  of 
Rome  has  so  much  good  in  her,  is  because  she  was 
once  a  pure  Church,  and  because  she  has  never  had 
any  reason  for  putting  away  the  good,  so  long  as  it 
answered  her  purpose  of  deceiving  mankind.  But 
since  she  became  a  corrupt  body,  the  accumulations 
of  evil  have  been  immense,  and  all  that  we  have 
ascribed  to  her  of  evil  in  this  chapter  is  strictly  true, 
only  that  the  half  has  not  been  told,  could  not  be. 

In  order  to  have  a  right  view  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  in  the  matters  we  have  had  under  considera- 
tion in  this  chapter,  it  is  important  to  distinguish 
between  the  priesthood  and  polity  of  that  Church  on 
the  one  hand,  and  her  communicants  on  the  other. 
The  priesthood,  comprising  all  its  branches,  from  the 
Pope  downward,  i§  the  Church,    The  communicants 


60  GENIUS    OF    THE    CHLRCII    OF    ROME. 

count  nothing  except  as  subjects  of  a  prince,  the 
Pope.  They  are  no  part  of  the  Church,  in  its  pre- 
sent, and  long  established  organization  and  active 
functions,  and  they  have  not  the  slightest  power  or 
influence  in  Church  affairs,  except  only  as  their  loy- 
alty and  obedience  contribute  to  maintain  the  power 
of  the  priesthood.  In  the  progress  of  centuries,  and 
by  constant  usurpations  from  all  quarters  and  in  all 
things,  absorbing  and  centralizing  every  controlling 
element  of  society,  the  priesthood  has  erected  itself 
into  a  state  machinery  sui  generis.  There  is  nothing 
like  it  on  earth.  But  it  is  a  state  edifice,  so  far  as 
its  political  structure  is  definable. 

The  danger  to  real  piety  in  the  Church  of  Eome, 
is,  that  it  will  be  buried  up  in  the  rubbish  of  idolatry 
and  superstition.  Where  there  is  so  much  to  worship 
between  the  worshipper  and  God,  it  is  hard  to  think 
of  God ;  and  where  a  man  is  the  priest  and  inter- 
cessor, claiming  to  offer  the  sacrifice  and  to  dispense 
pardon,  the  penitent  vrill  naturally  trust  in  the  priest 
before  his  eyes,  instead  of  trusting  in  the  atonement 
and  ofiices  of  Christ.  This,  indeed,  is  the  purpose 
of  the  priesthood  of  Rome.  Their  policy  is  only 
consummated  in  this  result.  The  religion  of  Rome  is 
a  religion  for  the  senses,  and  it  looks  not  beyond  the 
region  which  they  occupy. 

For  like  reasons  of  policy,  the  hierarchy  of 
Rome  is  willing  to  have  saints  of  eminent  piety 
grow  up  in  their  Church,  that  they  can  point  to  them 
as  examples  of  the  excellence  of  their  doctrine  and 
discipline ;  and  some  of  the  best  Christians  in  the 
world  have  been  found,  audi  are  yet  to  be  found,  in 


GENIUS    OF   THi;    CHURCH    OF    liO^iK.  61 

that  communion.  Some  of  the  brightest  lights  of 
Christendom  liave  appeared  in  the  priesthood  of 
the  Church-  of  Rome,  as  Massillon,  Fenelon,  and 
others  ;  and  they  are  honored  in  that  Church,  as  else- 
where. A  care  is  alwa3"s  taken  to  form  the  con- 
science of  her  communicants,  so  that  they  shall  have 
faith  in  that  Church,  and  in  no  other. 

But  the  principles  and  polity  of  the  hierarchy,  as 
such,  are  entirely  another  affair ;  and  the  picture  we 
have  given  of  them,  is  far  short  of  the  reality.  They 
exist,  as  we  have  shown,  for  the  object  of  power  over 
this  world,  by  shaping  the  world  to  come  to  suit  that 
end.  They  constitute  a  high  school  of  human  device 
for  the  subjugation  of  individuals,  states,  and  na- 
tions to  their  will ;  and  there  is  no  artifice  within  the 
range  of  man's  invention,  and  no  crime  specified  on 
the  penal  codes  of  society,  at  which  they  will  pause 
for  the  attainment  of  their  purposes.  It  is  in  this 
brotherhood  of  iniquity,  where  all  the  danger  lies — a 
brotherhood  which  has  no  rival  on  earth  in  the  arts 
and  practices  to  which  they  are  addicted.* 

*  Let  those  who  imagine  that  the  Church  of  Rome  has  changed, 
or  can  change,  for  the  better,  read  the  folloTving  remarks  of  Bishop 
Burnet,  in  his  Introduction  to  Part  III.,  of  his  History  of  the  Re- 
formation of  the  Church  of  England  : — "  When  men's  eyes  have 
been  once  opened,  when  they  have  shaken  off  the  yoke,  and  got 
out  of  the  noose  ;  when  the  simplicity  of  the  religion  has  been 
seen  into,  and  the  sweets  of  liberty  have  been  tasted ;  it  looka 
like  charm  and  witchcraft  to  see  so  many  looking  back  so  tamely 
on  that  servitude,  under  which  this  nation  groaned  so  heavily  for 
so  many  ages.  It  is  not  enough  for  such  as  understand  this  mat- 
ter, to  be  contented  with  their  own  thoughts,  and  that  they  resolve 
not  to  turn  papists  themselves.  They  ought  to  awaken  all  about 
them  to  appreheud  their  danger Some  say,  popery  is  not 


62      GENIUS  OF  THK  CHURCH  OF  ROME. 

The  history  of  the  defection  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  from  i)rimitive  usages,  and  of  her  gradual  ap- 
proximation to  her  present  arrogant  and  preposterous 
cLaims,  would  be  both  interesting  and  instructive,  in 
this  place.  But  we  have  space  only  for  a  few  histo- 
rical references  on  this  subject.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  sixth  century,  Gregory  the  Great,  Bishop  of 
Rome,  and  one  of  the  line  of  Popes,  as  claimed,  made 
precisely  the  same  remonstrance  against  the  claims 
of  the  Bishop  of  Constantinople  as  "  universal  patri- 
arch," which  the  Protestants  now  make  against  the 
claims  of  the  Pope  in  this  particular ;  and  precisely 

what  it  was  before  the  Reformation,  and  that  things  are  much 
mended.  They  tell  us,  that  further  corrections  might  he  expected 
if  w^would  enter  into  a  treaty  with  them. 

<'In  answer  to  this,  and  to  lay  open  the  falsehood  of  it,  wo 
are  to  look  back  to  the  first  beginning  of  Luther's  breach.  It 
was  occasioned  by  the  scandalous  sale  of  pardons  and  indulgen- 
ces, which  all  the  wi-iters  on  the  popish  side  give  up,  and  acknow- 
ledge it  was  a  great  abuse.  So  in  the  countries  where  the  Refor- 
mation has  got  an  entrance,  or  in  the  neighborhood  of  them,  this 
is  no  more  heard  of;  and  it  has  been  taken  for  granted,  that  such 
an  infamous  trafiic  was  no  more  practised.  But  in  Spain,  by  an 
agreement  with  the  Pope,  the  king  has  a  profit  in  the  sale  of  in- 
dulgences, and  it  is  no  small  branch  of  his  revenue.  In  Portugal, 
the  king  and  the  Pope  also  go  shares.  They  may  safely  do  what 
they  please,  where  the  terror  of  the  Inquisition  is  so  great.  In 
1700,  the  privateers  of  Bristol  took  the  galleon,  in  which  they 
found  500  bales  of  these  bulls  (indulgences),  IG  reams  to  a  bale, 
amounting  to  3,840,000.  These  bulls  arc  imposed  on  the  people, 
and  sold,  the  lowest  at  three  reals,  or  twenty  pence  ;  but  to  some, 
at  eleven  pounds  of  our  money.  All  are  obliged  to  buy  them 
against  Lent. 

"As  for  any  changes  that  may  be  made  in  popery,  it  is  certain, 
infallibility  is  their  basis.  So  nothing  can  be  altered,  where  a 
decision  is  once  made," 


GENIUS    OF   THE    CIIURCH    OF   ROME.  63 

the  same  reasons  are  given  in  both  cases.  Gregory 
■wrote  to  his  nuncio  at  Constantinople,  to  address 
himself  both  to  the  Emperor  and  to  the  Patriarch,  to 
dissuade  the  latter  from  any  farther  use  of  "the 
proud,  the  profane,  the  anti-Christian  title  of  univer- 
sal bishop,  Avhich  he  had  assumed,  in  the  pride  of 
his  heart,  to  the  great  debasement  of  the  ■whole  Epis- 
copal order.  ...  It  is  very  hard,"  says  Gregory, 
"  that,  after  ■v^•e  have  parted  with  our  silver,  our  gold, 
our  slaves,  and  even  our  garments,  for  the  public 
■welfare,  we  should  be  obliged  to  part  "with  our  faith 
too.  For,  to  agree  to  that  impious  title,  is  parting 
■with  our  faith."  The  title  of  universal  bishop,  then, 
according  to  Gregory,  v^as  heretical.  In  a  letter  to 
the  Patriarch  himself,  Gregory  says:  "Whom,  do 
you  imitate,  in  assuming  that  arrogant  title  ?  Whom 
but  he,"  (Lucifer,)  "■who,  swelled  with  pride,  exalted 
himself  above  so  many  legions  of  angels,  his  equals, 
that  he  might  be  subject  to  none,  and  that  all  might 
be  subject  to  him  ?  .  .  .  All  the  Apostles,"  says 
Gregory,  "  were  members  of  the  Church  under  one 
head,  and  none  would  ever  be  called  universal." 
Again,  addressing  the  Patriarch,  he  says :  "If  none 
of  the  Apostles  would  be  called  universal,  what  will 
you  answer  on  the  last  day  to  Christ,  the  head  of 
the  Church  universal ; — you,  who,  by  arrogating  that 
name,  strive  to  subject  all  his  members  to  yourself?" 
Gregory  begged  the  Emperor  "  to  control  by  his 
authority,  the  unbounded  ambition  of  a  man,  who, 
not  satisfied  with  being  Bishop,  affected  to  be  called 
sole  Bishop  of  the  Catholic  Church."  The  following 
are  remarkable  words  of  Gregory  on  this  subject : — 


64  OENIUS    OF   THE    CHUriCII    OF    ROME. 

"  If  there  was  a  universal  Bishop,  and  he  shouhl  err, 
the  universal  Church  would  err  with  him." 

The  8th  canon  of  the  CEcumenical  Council  of 
Ephesus,  held  in  431,  is  devoted  exclusively  and  very 
especially  to  determine  the  rights  of  Metropolitans, 
as  to  relative  jurisdiction,  and  is  utterly  at  variance 
with  the  idea  of  a  Primacy  in  Christendom.  It  is 
perfectly  evident,  from  the  terms  and  minute  speci- 
fications of  tliis  canon,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
establish  the  equal  rights  of  Metropolitans,  that  the 
thought  of  a  Primate  over  all  had  never  entered  the 
mind  of  the  Church  at  that  time.  The  spirit  and 
purpose  of  this  canon  is  radically  opposed  to  it.  "  The 
authority,"  says  Hammond,  "which  the  Bishops  of 
Rome,  in  after  ages,  claimed  and  usurped  over  the 
British  and  other  Western  Churches,  is  clearly  con- 
trary to  this  canon,  as  vrell  as  to  those  of  the  Council 
of  Nice."  Twenty  years  afterwards,  however,  in  451, 
at  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  (also  (Ecumenical,)  the 
rivalry  between  Rome  and  Constantinople  is  appa- 
rent, and  the  28th  canon  of  this  Council  was  passed 
to  declare  their  equality,  niucli  to  the  mortification 
of  the  Bishop  of  Rome. 

'•  The  progress  the  Papacy  had  made  from  Pope 
Gregory  the  Seventh,  to  Pope  Boniface  the  Eighth's 
time,  in  little  more  than  tAVO  hundred  and  thirty 
years,  is  an  amazing  thing.  The  one  began  with  the 
pretension  to  depose  kings.  The  other,  in  the  jubi- 
lee that  he  first  opened,  went  in  procession  through 
Rome,  the  first  day  attired  as  Pope,  and  the  next  day 
attired  as  Emperor,  declaring,  that  all  power,  both 
spiritual  and  temporal,  was  in  him,  and  derived  from 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      65 

him  ;  and  he  cried  out  with  a  loud  voice,  I  am  Pope 
and  Emperor,  and  hold  both  the  earthly  and  heavenly 
empire.  And  he  made  a  solemn  decree  in  these  words : 
We  say,  define,  and  pronounce,  that  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  salvation  to  every  human  creature  to 
be  subject  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome." — Burnet's  Re- 
formation, Part  III.  Booh  I. 

The  usurpations  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  assumed  a 
bolder  form,  after  the  disuse  of  the  provincial  coun- 
cils in  the  Latin  Church.  Among  the  records  of 
the  Assembly  of  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  Tus- 
cany, under  the  auspices  of  Leopold,  Grand  Duke, 
who  succeeded  to  the  Austrian  empire,  is  an  inter- 
esting paper  by  a  monk,  Francis  Barkovitch,  in  which 
he  says  :  "  The  principal  doctrines  inculcated  in  this 
fraudulent  collection"  (the  false  decretals)  "are, 
that  the  Pope  is  Bishop  of  all  Christendom ;  that  all 
causes  of  importance  ought  to  be  brought  by  appeal 
before  him  ;  that  causes  relating  to  the  bishops  be- 
long exclusively  to  the  Pope  ;  that  he  ought  to  con- 
voke and  preside  in  all  general  councils ;  that  no 
council,  general  or  particular,  is  binding,  unless 
approved  by  him ;"  &c.  In  a  paper  given  in  the 
Life  of  Cardinal  De  Ricci,  entitled,  the  defence  of 
Counsellor  Raffaele,  it  is  said :  "  Finally,  Gregory 
the  Twelfth  mounted  the  papal  throne,  and  reduced 
into  a  regular  system  the  whole  of  that  hitherto  un- 
shaped  mass  of  privileges  and  exemptions,  which  had 
been  slowly  constructed,  partly  on  the  ignorance  and 
superstition  of  the  people,  and  partly  on  the  weak- 
ness and  cowardice  of  governments. 
"The  two  Councils  of  Latcran  sanctioned  this  gi- 
6* 


6Q  GENIUS   OF   THE    CHURCH    OF    ROME. 

gantic  system,  by  the  adherence  of  deputies  from  the 
■whole  Church,  Avho,  they  said,  had  been  assembled 
in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
From  that  period,  -whoever  ventured  to  attack  either 
the  persons  or  the  property  of  the  clergy,  Avas  threat- 
ened Avith  the  spiritual  thunders  of  the  Church,  and 
its  awful  consequences  both  in  this  -world  and  the 
next.  The  energies  and  intelligence  of  mankind 
•were  thus  completely  paralyzed ;  and  society,  in  the 
very  period  of  its  infancy,  fell  into  the  -weakness  and 
decrepitude  of  age."  Or,  as  the  Bishop  of  St. 
Asaph  says,  in  his  history  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land :  "  The  vices  of  monarchs  and  of  nations  first 
made  the  Pope  king  of  kings;  and  the  vices  of 
Rome  and  her  servants  destroyed  a  po-wer  -vs'hich  no 
other  human  force  could  have  subdued." 

Although  -we  have  in  this  chapter,  and  elsewhere 
in  this  -work,  for  convenience'  sake,  in  conformity  to 
usage,  employed  the  phrase,  the  Church  of  Rome,  in 
application  to  the  papal  hierarchy,  nevertheless,  under 
the  sentence  which  has  been  passed  upon  her  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  she  occupies  the  position  of  an  adjudged 
criminal,  awaiting  the  execution  of  law,  which,  in 
this  case,  is  the  law  of  Providence  bringing  her  to 
judgment  before  the  tribunal  of  opinion.  The  scru- 
tiny for  her  retribution  opened  on  the  world  in  the 
Protestant  Reformation,  is  now  in  progress,  and  will 
terminate  only  in  the  fulfilment  of  ail  the  prophecies 
regarding  her.  She  has,  as  we  have  seen,  the  stamp 
of  the  Divine  hand  written  on  her  forehead :  "  The 
Mystery  of  iniquity;"  "the  Mother  of  Har- 
lots."    She  ip  not  a  schism  by  any  earthly  law,  or 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.      67 

by  any  recognized  principle  of  Churcli  polity.  What, 
then,  is  her  position  ?  It  is  that  of  an  Apostate 
under  sentence,  pronounced  by  the  same  authority 
that  will  judge  all  men  at  the  last  great  day.  It 
■would  be  equally  presumptuous  for  any  earthly  tribii- 
nal  to  review  that  sentence,  as  for  created  beings  to 
take  in  hand  the  decisions  of  the  final  judgment.  All 
judicial  process  over  the  papal  hierarchy  here  on 
earth,  is  precluded  by  acts  of  God  himself,  in  the 
dictates  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  inspired  writers 
on  this  subject,  such  as  we  have  cited  in  this  chap- 
ter. The  sentence  is  recorded  and  published,  and 
no  earthly  power  can  alter  it.  It  is  a  sentence  of 
utter  and  irrevocable  reprobation,  for  time  and  for 
eternity.  There  is  no  space  given  for  repentance, 
for  judgment  is  concluded  ;  and  no  hope  of  reform, 
for  there  is  no  redeeming  quality.  It  is  not  a  schism, 
but  an  apostacy,  a  prostitution,  stained  by  a  long 
career  of  blasphemy  against  God,  and  of  crime 
against  man.  For  six  hundred  years  or  more,  now 
past,  history  is  crowded,  and  groans  with  the  burden 
of  these  enormities.  The  Divine  admonition  to  all 
the  world,  is,  "  Come  out  of  her,  my  people,  that  ye 
be  not  partakers  of  her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not 
of  her  plagues.  For  her  sins  have  reached  unto 
heaven,  and  God  hath  remembered  her  iniquities." 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    GENIUS   OF   THE   REFORMATION. 

All  great  events  in  history  are  relative  to  their 
causes,  and  demonstrate  tlie  causes.  That  the  Pro- 
testant Reformation  was  a  great  event,  will  not  be 
denied ;  and  its  cause  is  found  in  the  genius  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  from  the  consideration  of  which  we 
have  just  passed.  When  great  wrongs  oppress  man- 
kind. Providence  usually  raises  up  some  great  spirits 
to  avenge  them  ;  and  the  wrongs  themselves  are  na- 
tiu'ally  productive  of  their  remedies. 

The  Protestant  Reformation  had  two  principal  lines 
or  columns  of  movement :  the  one  Germanic  or  con- 
tinental, the  other  Anglican.  There  was  a  lively  and 
strong  sympathy  between  them,  but  no  organic  con- 
nexion. During  the  reign  of  Edward  YI.,  a  corres- 
pondence was  opened  between  the  English  Protest- 
ants on  one  side,  headed  by  Archbishop  Cranmer, 
and  the  leaders  of  the  Continental  Reformers  on  the 
other,  for  some  union  of  effort  against  the  common 
enemy.  But  the  early  demise  of  the  king,  the  suc- 
cession of  Queen  Mary,  and  the  overthrow  of  Cran- 
mer, involving  a  temporary  check  to  Protestantism 
in  England,  put  a  stop  to  a  plan,  which,  if  it  had 
been  consummated,  might  have  proved  a  very  auspi- 
cious event  to  the  Protestant  world ;  the  more  so,  as 
it  might,  perhaps,  have  imparted  an  organic  form  to 

m 


THE   GENIUS   OF   THE   REFORMATION.  69 

the  continental  Reformation,  ^vhicll  would  have  made 
its  benefits  to  mankind  more  extensive  and  more  en- 
during. The  want  of  a  proper  organism  in  the  con- 
tinental movement  of  the  Protestants,  especially  in 
the  present  light  of  history,  must  be  apparent  to  all. 
Though  some  important  bodies  of  Protestants  grew 
out  of  that  movement,  and  though  it  has  proved 
a  vast  benefit  to  civil  and  religious  liberty,  it  has 
nevertheless  failed,  in  a  great  measure,  of  that  con- 
centrated, efiicient,  and  powerful  influence,  against 
the  designs  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  would  have 
been  the  natural  consequence  of  an  Episcopal  organ- 
ization, and  a  liturgy,  embodying  the  Catholic  creeds 
and  articles  of  faith,  to  unite  in  one  communion, 
though  in  separate  branches,  the  whole  Protestant 
world.  Behold  the  results  in  Germany,  for  want  of 
a  system  adequate  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Catho- 
lic faith ! 

The  English  Reformation. 

As  the  earliest  movement  in  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation, of  a  conspicuous  and  decided  character,  is 
found  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of. England,  and 
as  it  went  on  by  itself,  without  any  organic  connec- 
tion with  foreign  agencies  of  the  same  kind,  till  it 
was  consummated,  it  Avill  be  proper  to  begin  with 
this,  and  to  follow  it  up,  with  such  brief  notices  of 
its  progress  and  final  issue,  as  our  small  space  will 
allow.* 

*  Bishop  Burnet,  in  his  appendix  to  the  Records,  says  : — '*  My 
design  was  to  show  what  seeds  and  dispositions  were  still  in  the 
minds  of  many  of  this  nation,  that  prepared  them  for  a  reforma,- 


70      THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  causes  of  the  Reformation  were  legion,  and 
were  found  in  the  temporal  as  well  as  in  the  spiritual 
interests  of  mankind.  So  great  were  the  drafts  made 
by  the  Pope  on  the  wealth  of  England,  that  in  1376 
he  received,  under  his  various  modes  of  taxation,  five 
times  as  much  money  as  the  king.  "  The  pride  and 
luxury  of  the  ecclesiastics,"  says  Bishop  Short, 
"were  excessive.  They  vied  with  temporal. lords  in 
all  the  vanities  of  life,  and  men,  who  had  forsworn 
the  world,  were  on  their  journeys  often  seen  accom- 
panied by  four  score  richly  mounted  attendants. 
Celibacy  led  the  clergy  into  divers  snares  and  temp- 
tations." The  monasteries  were  pregnant  sources 
of  corruption,  and  numbered,  in  the  time  of  Henry 
VIII.,  1178.  "  In  1490,  Pope  Innocent  VIII.,  sent 
an  epistle  to  Archbishop  Morton,  directing  him  to 
reform  the  religious  orders  ;  and  the  pastoral  letter 
addressed  by  the  Metropolitan  to  the  Abbot  of  St. 
Albans,  furnishes  a  sad  picture  of  the  depravity 
which  reigned  within  their  walls.  They  are  accused 
(in  that  document)  of  many  crimes,  and  charged  with 
turning  out  the  modest  women  from  .the  nunneries 
under  their  jurisdiction,  and  of  substituting  in  their 
room  females  of  the  worst  characters.     In  one  case, 

tion,  in  tlie  beginning  of  king  Henry's  reign,  before  ever  Luther 
preached  in  Germany,  and  several  years  before  that  the  king's 
divorce  came  to  be  treated  of  in  England.  I,-  therefore,  judged 
it  was  necessary  for  me  to  let  the  reader  know  what  I  found  in 
our  registers  of  those  matters  :  how  that  many  were  tried,  and 
some  condemned,  upon  those  opinions  that  were  afterwards  reck- 
oned among  the  chief  grounds  of  our  separating  from  theChurch 
of  Rome.  It  seemed  a  necessary  introduction  to  my  work,  to 
offer  this,  as  I  found  it  upon  record."  ♦ 


THE    GEMUS    OF   THE    KEl'ORMATION.  71 

a  married  woman,  avIiosc  husband  was  still  alive,  had 
been  made  prioress  of  Pray,  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  up  an  adulterous  connexion  with  one  of  the 
monks  of  St.  Albans."  The  above,  of  course,  is  the 
evidence  of  the  Church  of  Rome  on  this  point. 
"  The  vicious  lives  and  conversations  of  '  the  reli- 
gious,' as  the  monks  were  denominated,  were  too  no- 
torious, not  to  call  forth  indignant  animadversion. 
We  have  so  many  authentic  documents  of  their  gross 
profligacy  and  superstitious  knavery,  that  little  doubt 
can  be  entertained,  either  of  their  guilt,  or  of  the 
benefit  which  morals  received  by  tbe  suppression  of 
monasteries.  .  .  .  The  height  to  which  Church  power 
had  now  risen,  rendered  the  members  of  that  body 
totally  unfit  for  spiritual  duties,  and  made  a  reforma- 
tion absolutely  necessary.  The  time  was  come  when 
either  their  wealth  and  power  must  be  taken  from  the 
clergy,  or  Christianity  would  be  destroyed  by  those 
who  were  appointed  its  guardians."  The  above  cita- 
tions are  from  Bishop  Short's  history  of  the  church 
of  England,  here  and  there.  (§  103,  §  105,  §  130, 
§  135,  §  211.) 

Besides  the  injury  to  public  morals,  produced  by 
the  numerous  monasteries  of  England,  before  the 
Reformation,  one  of  the  main  purposes  of  the  insti- 
tution was  to  say  masses  for  the  dead,  and  thus  ob- 
tain money  from  the  people.  Masses,  as  is  known, 
are  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  wealth  to  the  Church 
of  Rome.*     Besides  the  flagrant  crimes  against  so- 

•  Bishop  Burnet,  in  his  history  of  the  Reformation,  (part  I., 
book  III.,)  has  also  given  an  interesting  and  instructive  account  of 
the  rise,  character,  and  ■wealth  of  the  monasteries  of  England  : 


72  THE   GENIUS   OF   THE   REFORMATION. 

ciety,  the  useful  offices  of  the  clergy  were  neglected, 
and  most  of  the  higher  stations  in  the  state  Avere 
filled  by  Churchmen.  In  the  first  parliament  of  Ed- 
ward IV.,  the  temporal  lords  amounted  to  thirty-five, 
and  the  spiritual  to  forty-eight.  The  neglect  and 
ignorance  of  the  clergy,  as  to  their  appropriate  du- 
ties, gave  rise  to  the  mendicant  orders,  who  most 
infested  England  in  the  thirteenth  century.  The 
lapses  in  morals  were  followed  by  lapses  in  doctrine, 

•'  They  found  means  to  enrich  themselves,  first,  by  the  belief  of 
purgatory.  This  did  so  spread,  that,  if  some  laws  had  not  re- 
strained them,  the  greater  part  of  all  the  estates  in  England  would 
have  been  given  to  those  houses.  They  (the  monks)  fell  upon  con- 
trivances to  get  the  best  of  all  men's  jewels,  plate,  and  furniture," 
ostensibly  for  the  decoration  of  images,  relics,  and  altars.  "  Though 
there  was  enough  got  to  enrich  them  all,  yet  there  was  great 
rivalship  among  the  several  orders,  and  houses  of  the  same  order. 
Abounding  in  wealth,  they  became  degenerate,  impudent,  dissolute 
and  lewd."  Pretended  miracles,  of  course,  constituted  one  of  the 
chief  impostures.  At  the  monastery,  in  Reading,  was  found  "the 
angel  with  one  wing,  that  brought  over  the  spear's  head  that 
pierced  our  Saviour's  side,  and  as  many  more  relics  as  would  fill 
four  sheets  of  paper  to  mention.  At  St.  Edmondsbury  they  found 
6ome  of  the  coals  that  roasted  St.  Laui'ence,  the  parings  of  St. 
Edmond's  toes,  St.  Thomas  a  Becket's  penknife  and  boots,  with  as 
many  pieces  of  the  cross  as  would  make  a  whole  one.  A  piece 
of  St.  Andrew's  finger  had  been  pledged  for  £40."  A  saint  was 
held  at  a  higher  price  than  the  Saviour,  and  the  Virgin  higher, 
though  not  so  high  as  a  saint.  For  example  : — "  In  one  year 
there  was  ofifered  at  the  altar,  in  Canterbury,  to  Christ  £3  2s.  6d. ; 
to  the  virgin,  £63  5s.  6d. ;  but  to  St.  Thomas,  £832  12s.  3d.  The 
next  year,  not  a  penny  to  Christ ;  but  to  the  Virgin,  £-1  Is.  6d. ; 
and  to  St.  Thomas,  £954  Gs.  3d." 

Next  came  the  begging  friars,  who  very  much  suj^planted  the 
monks  by  their  popularity,  and  who,  in  their  turn,  became  rich, 
corrupt,  and  dissolute. 


THE   GENIUS   OF   THE    REFORMATIOX.  73 

giving  to  the  worst  dogmas  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
the  grossest  forms.  Idolatry  became  excessive;  pil- 
grimages, and  homage  to  relics,  were  extolled  as  of 
the  highest  efficacy  in  obtaining  favor  with  God ;  and 
the  church  became  a  market  for  absolutions  and  in- 
dulgences on  the  largest  scale. 

All  the  superstitions  of  the  Church  of  Rome  had 
risen  to  the  highest  pitch  in  England,  and  the  Pope 
had  almost  undisputed  sway  in  all  temporal  and 
spiritual  matters,  when  Wiclif*,  who  may  be  called 
the  pioneer  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  dared  to 
come  forward  as  the  champion  of  a  true  Christianity. 
That  his  first  protestations  should  have  comprehended 
the  entire  scope  of  the  errors  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
was  not  to  be  expected.  Neither  did  Luther's,  when 
he  commenced  his  career  of  reform  about  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  afterwards.  In  the  midst  of  such 
darkness,  the  full  light  of  truth  did  not  burst  at  once 
on  either  of  these  great  minds.  In  both  cases,  it 
was  the  progress  of  the  contest  that  brought  them 
more  fully  out;  though  Wiclif  did  not  live  long 
enough  to  finish  his  work,  or  to  have  the  honor  of 
martyrdom,  which  was  fully  determined  for  him  at 
Rome.  In  1356,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  he  pub- 
lished his  first  work  against  the  covetousness  of  the 
Court  of  Rome,  entitled,  "  The  Last  Age  of  the 
Church,"  a  topic  with  which  he  must  have  been 
deeply  impressed,  in  view  of  the  system  of  pecuniary 

s-  We  follow  Bishop  Short  in  the  spelling  of  this  name,  who, 
being  one  of  the  latest  writers  on  these  times,  and  on  that  branch 
of  history,  we  suppose,  had  good  reason,  based,  probably,  on 
what  he  regarded  as  a  return  to  the  original  letters  used. 

7 


74  THE   GENIUS   OF   THE   IIEFOIIMATION. 

exactions  practised  by  tliat  Court  on  all  the  world, 
particularly  in  England.  The  productions  of  Wiclif  s 
pen  were  prodigious,  all  done  within  the  range  of 
some  twenty-eight  years.  Besides  his  translation  of 
the  Bible,  his  works,  tracts  and  all,  amounted  to 
nearly  three  hundred. 

In  the  opening  of  his  career,  Wiclif  made  an 
undisguised  attack  on  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope, 
and  in  vindication  of  the  independent  rights  of  the 
crown,  or  civil  magistrate.  This  was  vital,  and 
struck  at  the  very  foundation  of  the  mighty  fabric 
of  Papacy.  Wiclif  was  the  open  enemy  of  the  friars, 
Avho,  being  an  every  where  present  body  among  the 
people,  raised  a  world  of  opposition  against  him ; 
notwithstanding  which,  however,  the  right  of  his 
cause,  his  personal  influence,  and  his  writings  are  re- 
presented by  some  authorities,  as  having  alienated 
one  half  of  the  people  of  England  from  the  Church 
of  Borne ;  though  much  of  this  opposition  to  Papacy 
sprung  up  in  forms  which  Wiclif  would  not  have 
desired,  and  which  he  could  not  control,  as  for 
example,  the  Lollards.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a  seed 
of  the  Beformation,  and  a  great  portion  of  this  cur- 
rent of  opinion  was  afterwards  blended  with  the 
movement  which  signalized  the  triumph  of  the  Be- 
formers.  The  work  once  begun,  under  such  an  im- 
pulse, could  not  be  stopped,  as  it  harmonized  so 
entirely  with  the  wishes  of  mankind.  A  cause  so 
ripe,  needed  nothing  but  a  leader,  a  captain,  who,  at 
this  juncture,  was  found  in  Wiclif.  lie  acknow- 
ledged his  obligations  to  his  predecessor,  Greathead, 
Bishop  of  Lincoln,  a  century  before,  and  to  Fitzralph, 


THE  GENIUS  OF  TUE  REFORMATION.      75 

a  cotemporary,  both  of  Avliom  might  have  been  for- 
gotten, but  for  him. 

Another  matter  in  which  Wiclif  distinguished  him- 
self, -was  his  preaching  and  writing  against  the  doc- 
trine of  transubstantiation.  This  also  was  vital  with 
the  authorities  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  a  denial  of 
Avhich  was  punishable  with  death.  Nevertheless, 
Wiclif  boldly  denounced  it,  both  from  the  pulpit, 
and  with  his  pen.  He  opposed  the  Pope  in  his  pecu- 
niary demands  on  the  king — a  mortal  offence.  In 
England  Wiclif  was  the  high  priest  of  opposition 
to  Papacy,  though  he  did  not  go  so  far  as  later 
Pteformers,  in  the  detail  of  his  objections  to  the  false 
doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Rome ;  but  he  continued 
to  hold,  and  in  a  moderate  way,  to  advocate  some  of 
them,  as  for  example,  that  of  purgatory.  He  was 
opposed  to  the  constrained  celibacy  of  the  clergy, 
the  evils  of  which  were  too  flagrant  before  his  eyes. 
He  opposed  auricular  confession,  denounced  indul- 
gences, and  many  other  doctrines  and  practices  of 
the  Church,  involving  principles  common  to  all  Pro- 
testants. The  extent  of  his  heretical  opinions,  as 
adjudged  by  the  Papists,  may  be  estimated  by  the 
fact,  that  a  commission  sent  to  Oxford  by  Archbishop 
Arundel,  after  the  death  of  Wiclif,  to  counteract  the 
influence  which  he  had  left  behind  him  in  that 
university,  found  two  hundred  and  ninety-eight  con- 
clusions in  his  writings,  which  were  pronounced 
erroneous.  AViclif  always  appealed  to  the  Bible  for 
authority.  It  was  his  experience  of  the  want  of  the 
Bible  among  the  people,  as  a  standard  of  appeal  for 
doctrine,  and  as  a  rule  of  life,  that  induced  him  to 


76  THE    GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

sit  down  to  the  great  task  of  translating  it.  In 
1377,  the  pope  (Gregory  XI.)  appointed  a  commis- 
sion for  the  trial  of  Wiclif,  Avhich,  though  he  ap- 
peared, was  twice  broken  up  by  popular  demonstra- 
tions in  his  favor.  The  functions  of  the  commission, 
before  they  were  consummated,  ceased  with  the  death 
of  the  pope ;  and  death  itself,  in  1384,  rescued  the 
Reformer  from  farther  molestation  of  p^pal  tribunals, 
and  no  doubt  from  mart^a-dom.  ' 

Without  doubt,  Wiclif  may  be  regarded  as  the 
primitive  apostle  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  not 
only  in  England,  but  for  the  continent.  John  Huss 
is  said  to  have  come  to  his  eminence  as  a  Reformer, 
and  to  the  stake  as  a  martyr,  by  the  influence  of 
Wiclif 's  writings.  They  were  disseminated  over 
Europe,  and  no  doubt  contributed  largely  in  raising 
up  that  noble  host  of  Reformers,  who  appeared  upon 
the  stage  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  seed  once 
planted,  never  ceased  to  germinate,  and  bring  forth 
fruit. 

But  we  have  at  present  chiefly  to  do  with  this 
influence,  as  it  bore  upon  the  English  Reformation. 
Bishop  Short  says,  "  there  is  an  almost  uninter- 
rupted succession  of  martyrs  and  confessors  from 
this  time  (the  time  of  Wiclif)  to  the  period  of  the 
Reformation"  (English,  and  of  course  continental). 
The  English  Reformation  dates  from  the  reign  of 
Henry  the  Eighth,  though  it  actually  began,  as  seen 
above,  with  Wiclif,  and  continued  to  operate  in  the 
public  mind,  till  Henry  declared  off"  from  the  Court 
of  Rome,  and  assumed  the  rights  over  the  English 


THE   GENIUS    OF   THE   REFORMATION.  77 

Church  and  nation,  which  had  before  been  usurped 
hy  the  Pope. 

And  here  it  becomes  necessary  to  consider  the 
position  which  Henry  the  Eighth  occupied  in  this 
transition,  and  which  has  subsequently  been  occupied 
by  the  British  sovereign,  for  thd  time  being,  as  head 
of  the  Church.  Much  obloquy  has  been  attempted 
to  be  fastened  on  the  Church  of  England,  that,  she 
should  have  come  to  her  Reformation  under  such  a 
leader ;  that  she  should  have  acknowledged  such  a ' 
head;  and  that  she  should  still  continue  to  acknow- 
ledge the  British  sovereign  as  head  of  the  Church. 
The  effect  of  this  demonstration,  so  far  as  any  is 
produced,  arises  entirely  from  the  lack  of  discrimi- 
nation betn'cen  the  position  of  the  sovereign  and 
that  of  the  Church,  in  the  premises. 

Can  we  not  understand  the  position  of  Cyrus,  the 
"  anointed"  of  the  Lord,  as  presented  in  the  open- 
ing of  the  forty-fifth  chapter  of  Isaiah  ?  ""  Thus 
saith  the  Lord  to  his  anointed,  to  Cyrus,  whose  right 
hand  I  have  holden  ....  For  Jacob  my  servant's 
sake,  and  Israel  mine  elect,  I  have  even  dalled  thee 
by  thy  name,  though  thou  hast  not  known  me." 
Cyrus  was  a  pagan,  and  knew  not  God.  For  aught 
we  know,  he  may  have  been  as  bad  a  prince  as 
Henry  the  Eighth,  or  worse.  But  God  had  chosen 
him  as  an  instrument  for  the  accomplishment  of 
important  purposes  in  favor  of  his  people  Israel. 
In  that  sense,  and  for  these  objects,  he  was  God's 
"  anointed."  There  is  no  approbation  of  his  per- 
sonal character  in  this.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  said, 
"  though  thou  hast  not  known  .me."  In  the  same 
7* 


78  THE   GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

manner  God  often  emploj^s  the  kings  and  princes  of 
the  earth  to  fulfd  his  great  designs,  at  the  same 
time,  that  the  agents,  thus  employed,  may  be  utter 
reprobates. 

It  Avas  precisely  in  this  sense,  that  Henry  the 
Eighth  was  employed  to  rescue  the  English  Church 
and  nation  from  the  dominion  and  power  of  the  Pope 
of  Rome  ;  and  what  is  more,  the  vices  of  Henry  were 
made  the  instruments  of  accomplishing  this  end. 
"His  very  vices,"  says  Bishop  Short,  "were,  by  the 
providence  of  God,  made  the  instruments  of  beneficial 
results.  His  desire  to  divorce  Catharine  destroyed 
the  Papal  power  in  England.  His  tyranny,  and  the 
influence  which  he  exercised  over  his  subjects,  ena- 
bled him  to  dissolve  the  monastic  establishments — a 
power  which  must  have  impeded  every  step  toward 
reformation,  had  they  been  continued  in  existence ; 
and  with  regard  to  their  destruction,  if  he  had  been 
troubled  with  a  very  scrupulous  conscience,  he  would 
never  have  resorted  to  the  means  by  which  he  accom- 
plished this  stupendous  work.  ...  It  seems 
probable,  that,  unless  the  rapacity  of  Henry  and  his 
courtiers  had  previously  scattered  tlie  wealth,  and 
thus  destroyed  much  of  the  worldly  power  of  the 
Church  (of  Rome),  the  Reformation  (in  England) 
would  hardly  have  taken  place  at  this  time.  It  was 
avarice  which  led  them  to  make  this  attack  on 
property.  But,  in  attempting  to  defend  their  con- 
duct,'they  examined  the  grounds  on  Avhich  those  foun- 
dations were  laid  ;  and  soon  found  the  instability  of 
a  building,  which  had  neither  sound  reason  in  its 


THE   GENIUS    OF   THE   REFOKMATION.  79 

favor,  nor  the  revealed  word  of  God  for  its  support."* 
(§  228,  §  248). 

«-  The  surrender  of  the  monasteries  is  a  curious  and  somewhat 
amusing  piece  of  history.  It  seems  that  the  heads  of  these  houses 
were  required  to  sign  a  renunciation  of  Papacy,  and  a  new  faith. 
The  apparent  facility  with  wliich  those  signatures  were  obtained, 
would  seem  to  indicate,  that  they  were  not  quite  ready  to  be  mar- 
tyrs for  the  Pope.  These  documents,  Bishop  Buraet  says,  were 
mostly  destroyed  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary.  A  few,  however, 
remain,  of  which  the  two  following  are  specimens  :— 

"Forasmuch  as  we,  Richard  Green,  Abbot  of  our  monasteiy, 
of  our  blessed  lady  St.  Mary  of  Bethesden,  and  the  convent  of 
said  monastery,  do  profoundly  consider,  that  the  whole  manner 
and  trade  of  living,  which  wc  and  our  pretended  religion  have 
practised,  and  used  many  days,  does  most  principally  consist  in 
certain  dumb  ceremonies,  and  other  certain  constitutions  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome,  and  other  forensical  potentates,  as  the  Abbot  of 
Cistins,  and  therein  only  noseled,  and  not  taught  in  the  true 
knowledge  of  God's  laws,  procuring  always  exemptions  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome,  from  our  ordinaries,  and  diocesans  ;  submitting 
ourselves  principally  to  forensical  potentates,  and  powers,  which 
never  came  here  to  reform  such  disorders  of  living  and  abuses,  as 
now  have  been  found  to  have  reigned  among  us.  And,  therefore, 
now  assuredly  knowing,  that  the  most  perfect  way  of  living  is  most 
principally  and  sufficiently  declared  unto  us  by  our  Master  Christ, 
Lis  Evangelists  and  Apostles,  and  that  it  is  most  expedient  for  us 
to  be  governed  and  ordered  by  our  supreme  head,  under  God, 
the  king's  most  noble  grace,  with  our  mutual  assent  and  consent, 
we  submit  ourselves,  every  one  of  us,  to  the  most  benign  mercy 
of  the  king's  majesty,  and  by  these  presents  do  surrender,"  &c. 

Another:  "  Forasmuch  as  we  the  prior  and  friars  of  this  house 
of  Carmelites,  in  Stamford,  commonly  called  the  white  friars  in 
Stamford,  in  the  county  of  Lincobi,  do  profoundly  consider,  that  the 
perfection  of  Christian  living  doth  not  consist  in  dumb  ceremonies, 
wearing  of  a  white  coat,  disguising  ourselves  after  strange  fash- 
ions, docking  and  becking,  wearing  scapulars  and  hoods,  and 
other  like  papistical  ceremonies,  wherein  we  have  been  most 
principally  practised  nnd  .noseled  in  times  past ;  but  the  very  true 


80  THE    GENIUS    OF    THE    REFORM ATIOX. 

As  to  King  Henry's  having  been  the  head  of 
the  Church,  and  so  of  his  successors  down  to  this 
time,  a  fewwords  may  suffice.*     It  cannot  be  denied, 

way  to  please  God,  and  to  live  a  true  Christian  man,  -without  all 
hypocrisy  and  feigned  dissimulation,  is  sincerely  declared  to  us  by 
our  Master  Christ,  his  Evangelists,  and  Apostles  ;  being  minded 
hereafter  to  follow  the  same,  conforming  ourselves  to  the  will  and 
pleasure  of  our  supreme  head,  under  God,  on  earth,  the  King's 
majesty ;  and  not  to  follow  henceforth  the  superstitious  traditions 
of  any  forensical  potentate  or  power,  with  mutual  assent  and  con- 
sent, we  do  submit  ourselves  unto  the  mercy  of  our  said  sovereign 
lord,  and  with  the  like  mutual  assent  and  consent  do  surrender," 
&c.  Bishop  Burnet's  History  of  the  Reforrnaiion,  Records,  Part  I. 
Book  III. 

The  Papal  writer,  Sanders,  whose  habit  of  mendacity  is  proved 
by  Bishop  Uurnet,  says,  "  The  Abbots  of  Glastonbury,  Colchester, 
and  Reading,  suffered  martyrdom  for  refusing  to  sign."  But  the 
Bishop  says,  "  no  such  writing  was  ever  offered  to  them,  and 
that  they  were  attainted  by  legal  trial  of  high  treason."  It  does 
not  appear,  that  any  of  the  Monks  ever  became  martyi-s.  on  this 
account.     They  were  too  fond  of  life  and  good  fare. 

*  The  first  and  second  Canons  of  1G03  will,  perhaps,  define  the 
position  of  the  British  Sovereign,  as  head  of  the  Church,  suffi- 
ciently for  common  apprehension.  They  agree  with  Bishop  Gib- 
son's definition  of  this  relation,  elsewhei'e  given  in  these  pages. 
It  is  to  supersede  the  Pope,  and  keep  him  off.  The  two  Canons 
referred  to  are  as  follows  : — 

1.  "As  our  duty  to  the  King's  most  excellent  majesty  requireth, 
we  first  decree  and  ordain,  that  the  Archbishop  of  Canterburj', 
from  time  to  time,  all  bishops  of  this  province,  all  deans,  arch- 
deacons, parsons,  vicars,  and  all  other  ecclesiastical  persons,  shall 
faithfully  keep  and  obsei-ve,  and  as  much  as  in  them  lieth,  shall 
cause  to  be  observed  and  kept  by  others,  all  and  singular  laws 
and  statutes  made  for  restoring  to  the  crown  of  this  kingdom  the 
ancient  jurisdiction  over  the  state  ecclesiastical,  and  abolishing  of 
all  foreign  power  repugnant  to  the  same.  Furthermore,  all  eccle- 
siastical persons,  having  cure  of  souls,  and  all  other  preachers  and 
readers  of  Divine  lectures,  shall  to  the  utmost  of  their  ^it,  know- 


THE    GENIUS    OF    THE     KKFOIIMATION.  81 

that  much  was  gained  to  the  Churcli,  and  to   the 
cause   of   Christianity,   by  transferring   that   power 

ledge,  and  learning,  purely  and  sincerely,  •without  any  color  or 
dissimulation,  teach,  manifest,  open,  and  declare,  four  times 
every  year  at  the  least,  in  their  sermons  and  other  collations  and 
lectures,  that  all  usurped  and  foreign  power,  (forasmuch  as  the 
same  hath  no  establishment  nor  ground  by  the  law  of  God),  is  for 
most  just  causes  taken  away  and  abolished ;  and  that,  therefore, 
no  manner  of  obedience  or  subjection,  within  his  majesty's  realms 
and  dominions,  is  due  unto  any  such  foreign  power ;  but  that 
the  King's  power  within  his  realms  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland,  and  all  other  his  dominions  and  countries,  is  the  highest 
power  under  God  ;  to  whom  all  men,  as  well  inhabitants  as  born 
within  the  same,  do,  by  God's  laws,  owe  most  loyalty  and  obedi- 
ence, afore  and  above  all  other  powers  and  potentates,  in  tho 
earth. 

2.  "Whosoever  shall  hereafter  aflfirm,  that  the  king's  majesty 
hath  not  the  same  authority  in  causes  ecclesiastical,  that  the 
^odly  kings  had  among  the  Jews,  and  Christian  emperors  of  the 
primitive  Church  ;  or  impeach  any  part  of  his  regal  supremacy  in 
the  said  causes  restored  to  the  Crown,  and  by  the  laws  of  this 
realm  therein  established ;  let  him,"  &c. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  Episcopal  oath  of  allegi- 
ance to  Henry  the  Eighth : — 

"  I  knowledge  and  recognize  your  majesty  immediately  under 
Almighty  God,  to  be  the  chief  and  supreme  head  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  claim  to  have  the  Bishopric  of  Chester,  whole 
and  alone  of  your  gift ;  and  to  have  and  to  hold  the  profits  tempo- 
ral and  spiritual  of  the  same  only  of  your  majesty,  and  of  your 
heirs  kings  of  this  realm,  and  of  none  other;  and  in  that  sort, 
and  none  other,  I  shall  take  my  restitution  out  of  your  hands 
accordingly,  utterly  renouncing  any  other  suit  to  be  had  therefor 
to  any  other  creature  living,  or  hereafter  to  be,  except  your  heirs. 
And  I  shall  to  my  wit  and  uttermost  of  my  power,  observe,  keep, 
maintain,  and  defend,  all  the  statutes  of  this  realra  made  against 
the  reservations  and  provisions  of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  called  the 
Pope,  of  any  of  the  archbishoprics  or  bishoprics  in  the  realm,  or 
of  other  your  domiuious."      Burnet,  Pari  III.,  Records. 


82  THE   GENIUS   OF  THE   REFORMATION. 

from  Rome  to  the  Crown  of  England.  However 
undesirable  sucli  a  connexion  between  the  Church 
and  State  may  be,  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the 
Church  at  that  time,  to  choose  between  that  and  the 
alternative  of  independence,  without  breaking  up  her 
organization,  and  falling  back  into  original  elements  ; 
in  other  words,  into  a  state  of  anarchy.  The  Church 
was  providentially  and  entirely  passive  in  that  opera- 

A  word  may  also  here  be  said,  in  addition  to  wliat  -we  have 
given  on  page  9,  on  the  same  point  and  same  text,  touching  the 
religious  obligations  of  Christians  to  the  State,  as  an  "  ordinance 
of  God,"  which  Avill  apply  very  especially  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, in  the  progress  of  the  Reformation,  and  ever  since,  though 
the  subject  involves  a  general  principle.  "  Let  every  soul  be 
subject  to  the  higher  powers.  For  there  is  no  power  (no  civil 
government)  but  of  God.  The  powers  that  be,  are  ordained  of 
God.  Whosoever,  therefore,  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the 
ordinance  of  God."  (Saint  Paul,  Rom.  xiii.,  1  and  2.)  This  is 
not  to  be  regarded  as  a  Divine  sanction  of  the  civil  governments 
then  existing,  as  being  in  all  respects  such  as  they  ought  to  be. 
They  may  have  been,  and  probably  were,  very  corrupt — more  so 
even,  than  the  government  of  Henry  the  Eighth  of  England.  We 
suppose,  as  remarked  in  page  9,  that  the  above  cited  inspired 
precept,  is  based  on  the  principle,  that  the  cause  of  Christianity 
can  be  more  easily  and  more  effectually  promoted,  under  any 
civil  government,  than  none  at  all ;  and  that  the  good  order  and 
quiet  of  civil  governments,  whatever  may  be  their  character,  are 
more  favorable  to  Christianity,  than  a  different  state  of  things. 
Hence  the  precept.  All  civil  governments  are  provident'al 
arrangements  ;  and  on  account  of  their  importance  to  the  Church, 
for  the  accomplishment  of  her  ends,  they  are  elevated  to  the  emi- 
nent position  of  "  ordinances  of  God,"  and  are  required  to  be 
respected  and  obeyed  as  such.  This  is  the  duty  of  Christians,  in 
all  ages,  and  in  all  countries.  This  principle  applied  to  the  Church 
of  England,  in  the  beginning  and  progress  of  the  Reformation,  and 
has  been  equally  applicable  ever  since.  In  lier  position  she 
could  only  dn  as  the  state  oi-derod. 


THE    GENIUS   OF   THE    REFOllMATION  83 

lion  ;  but  it  was  a  great  gain  to  her.  The  King  had 
his  own  purposes,  and  God  had  his  to  accomphsh, 
by  this  relation,  as  in  the  severance  of  the  ties 
between  the  State  and  the  Pope.  Nor  did  the  rela- 
tion extend  so  far  as  to  impair  the  administrative 
functions  of  the  Church  as  a  spiritual  body.  On  the 
contrary,  it  secured  to  the  Church  a  far  greater 
degree  of  freedom  and  independence,  than  was  before 
enjoyed ;  and  neither  then,  nor  at  any  time  since, 
under  Protestant  rule,  did  the  sovereign  ever  inter- 
fere with  the  appropriate  priestly  offices  of  the 
Church,  except,  perhaps,  in  some  instances,  to  require 
uniformity,  which  can  hardly  be  called  an  interfer- 
ence of  this  kind.  The  administrative  functions  of 
the  Church  in  England,  have  always  been  held  and 
kept  sacred  to  the  ministers  of  religion.  Opinion  on 
this  subject  has  ever  been  too  strong  for  the  sovereign 
to  dare  to  violate  it ;  and  that  opinion  has  constantly 
been  growing  in  strength.  Since  the  Reformation 
was  consummated,  we  are  not  aware,  that  the  power 
of  the  British  sovereign,  as  head  of  the  Church,  while 
in  Protestant  hands,  has  ever  been  employed,  except, 
first,  to  regulate  the  temporalities  of  the  Church, 
through  Parhament ;  next,  to  license  the  action  of 
Convocation  as  an  ecclesiastical  body;  and  thirdly, 
to  regulate  any  action  of  that  body  tending  to  revo- 
lution or  change  in  the  constitution,  offices,  and  fiiith 
of  the  Church.  Nor  are  we  aware,  that  it  has  ever 
yet  been  in  the  power  of  the  Church  of  England  to 
separate  from  the  State,  without  jeopardizing  her 
existence ;  at  least,  without  jeopardizing  her  essential 
prosperity.     Uncomfortable,  therefore,  and  in  many 


84  THE    GKNUTS    OF    TIIH    UErORMATIOX. 

respects  detrimental,  as  this  connexion  is,  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  prudence  ^vith  those  most  intimately  concerned, 
'^vhen  and  how  far  it  shall  be  severed.  Like  slavery 
in  the  United  States,  it  was  a  thing  not  to  be  sought ; 
but,  having  been  providentially  inherited  and  im- 
posed, it  demands  the  wisest  and  most  conscientious 
treatment. 

Though  the  relation  of  Ilcligion  to  the  State,  in 
our  own  country,  does  not  go  so  far,  it  is,  neverthe- 
less, based  on  the  same  principle  as  in  England,  to 
wit,  protection.  By  our  laws,  we  protect  religion 
in  one  way;  they  do  it  in  another.  In  both  cases, 
as  now  exercised,  it  is  a  protective  and  fostering 
care  of  government.  We  originated  our  plan  ;  theirs 
was  inherited  and  imposed.  Ours,  we  believe,  is 
the  best,  the  only  true,  and  in  all  respects,  the  only 
safe  way ;  and  we  sympathize  with  those  who  have 
not  yet  been  able  to  adopt  it,  which  is  simply  to 
protect  religion,  and  to  grant  such  corporate  privi- 
leges as  religious  bodies  require  for  the  management 
of  their  temporalities.  So  far,  it  is  a  connexion 
of  Church  and  State,  and  a  very  essential  one. 
Moreover,  both  the  Federal  and  State  Governments 
have  adopted  Christianity  by  the  religious  sanction 
of  an  oath  on  the  New  Testament,  Avhich  is  a 
fundamental  moral  element  in  a  civil  commonwealth. 
They  also  employ  Christian  chaplains  in  Congress, 
in  the  Army  and  Kavy,  and  in  the  State  Legis- 
latures, to  give  a  religious  sanction  to  all  public 
acts.  By  these  recognitions,  and  by  this  relation 
of  the  Church  to  the  state,  we  are  a  Christiiin 
nation.     Yet    farther,   the   Cl)ristian    Sabbath    is    a 


THE    GENIUS    OF    THE    HEEOIIMATION.  85 

non  dies  in  tho  common  law  of  the  land.  On  that 
clay,  the  nation  ceases  from  its  labors.  All  public 
functionaries  rest,  all  public  offices  are  closed,  and 
all  legislation  and  civil  contracts,  having  that  date, 
are  void.  This,  surely,  is  a  high  and  commanding 
evidence  of  a  connexion  of  Religion  with  the  State, 
and  of  the  influence  of  the  former  upon  the  latter. 

But  to  return  to  the  Reformation.  The  general 
mind  of  the  English  nation  had  been  prepared  by 
Wiclif  and  others,  his  successors,  though  less  con- 
spicuous, for  the  change.  The  continental  move- 
ment, too,  had  begun,  and  a  common  sympathy  in 
the  cause  of  the  Reformation,  was  felt  throughout 
Christendom.  It  was  only  necessary  for  an  adequate 
power  in  England  to  strike  the  blow.  That  blow  was 
struck  by  the  hand  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  no  thanks 
to  his  motives,  or  to  his  virtue.  He  was  the  instru- 
ment of  Providence,  that  is  all,  and  that  was  enough. 
The  severance  of  the  State  from  the  Church  of  Rome 
was  made  forever,  except  for  the  brief  period  of 
Queen  Mary's  reign ;  and  the  Church  of  England 
was  independent  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  It  is  true 
the  English  Reformation  did  not  by  a  single  bound 
leap  to  perfection.  The  Church  was  held  too  strong 
,in  the  grasp  of  her  organization  for  a  rapid  move- 
ment. In  all  matters  of  reform,  that  Avhich  is  slow 
is  often,  if  not  generally,  most  secure;  more  especi- 
ally when  the  reform  is  great,  and  when  force  of 
arms  is  not  required.  The  object  of  a  sound  refor- 
mation is  to  throw  away  the  bad  and  keep  the  good. 
But  impetuous  reformers  often  destroy  both,  and 
adopt  that  which  is  worse  still  than  the  bad  rejected. 


86  THE    GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION, 

We  shall  yet  see  the  benefit  of  the  gradual  reforma- 
tion of  the  Church  of  England,  as  providentially 
ordered  ;  and  wo  may  remark  in  this  place,  that  the 
chief  good  is  the  preservation  of  a  ritual,  approved 
by  the  piety  of  so  many  ages ;  the  maintenance  of 
the  Catholic  faith  handed  down  from  primitive  times, 
and  incorporated  with  the  ritual  ;  and  a  Church 
organization,  which,  with  such  modifications  as  the 
American  Episcopal  Church  has  secured,  is,  wc 
thinh,  v.-cll  fitted  to  bufi'ct  the  storms  of  all  ages, 
and  t(;  tiiumph  at  last. 

The  policy  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  in  relation  to 
the  Court  of  Rome,  and  the  internal  acts  of  his  reign 
corresponding  thereunto,  gave  no  inconsiderable 
scope  to  the  Protestant  feeling  of  the  English 
public ;  but  they  were  far  from  affording  a  full 
gratification  to  it.  The  supremacy  of  the  Pope  was 
broken  down  ;  the  monasteries  were  suppressed  ;  the 
liturgy  was  adapted  to  the  essential  changes  already 
effected  ;  and  the  publication  and  common  use  of  the 
Scriptures  were  allowed.  But  the  king  never  fully 
relinquished  the  hope  of  an  accommodation  of  his 
controversy  with  the  Pope.  Bishop  Short  remarks 
of  what  was  accomplished  in  this  reign  for  the 
Protestant  cause,  as  follows : — "  The  power  of  tlic 
Papacy  in  England  was  for  the  time  annihilated, 
not  merely  by  legislative  enactments,  not  merely  by 
taking  away  the  wealth  of  the  supporters  of  so 
monstrous  a  scheme  of  oppression  ;  but  by  breaking 
the  charm  which  had  given  energy  to  the  whole,  by 
weakening  the  force  on  which  this  machine  depended 
for  its  motion.      The  superstitions  of  the  Church  of 


IHE   GENIUS   OF   THE   REFORMATION.  87 

Rome  had  been  attacked  in  their  very  origin,  and 
many  of  the  more  gross  of  her  idolatries  had  been 
put  down  by  the  civil  power.  But  the  method  which 
had  been  most  successfully  adopted,  was  that  of 
allowing  the  people  to  think  and  judge  for  them- 
selves. The  Bible  and  the  Creeds  had  been  declared 
to  be  the  rule  of  faith ;  the  use  of  the  Bible  had 
been  granted  to  the  people  ;  and  they  were  directed 
to  read  the  "Word  of  God,  and  to  learn  from  it 
their  duty  towards  Him  and  their  neighbor.  The 
monasteries  were  deprived  of  the  real  source  of 
their  riches,  when  the  notion  of  purgatory  was 
discountenanced,  and  when,  in  the  instructions 
delivered  to  the  people,  no  mention  was  made  of 
this  doctrine,  from  whence  the  influence  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  is  derived.  The  translation  of  the 
Bible  was  authorized  by  the  government ;  copies  of 
it  were  distributed  throughout  the  kingdom  ;  and 
the  litany  was  published  in  the  mother  tongue. 
The  people  had  now  the  means  of  instruction,  and 
the  blessing  was  insured  to  the  rising  generation." 
(§  229.) 

But  it  was  left  for  Edward  the  Sixth,  a  youthful 
prince,  by  the  regency  established,  by  the  Parlia- 
ment, and  by  the  aid  of  the  clergy,  to  carry  forward 
the  Reformation  to  a  point  from  which  there  was  no 
retreat ;  though  it  was  put  in  check  by  the  subse- 
quent reign  of  his  sister,  Queen  Mary.  The  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  now  in  use  in  the  Church  of 
England,  was  prepared  under  the  auspices  of  this 
young  prince ;  and  singular  to  say,  it  has  never 
been  essentially  altered  down  to  this  time,  so  perfect 


88  THE    GEMUS    OF    THE    nEFORJIATION. 

and  thoroughly  Protestant  was  the  work.  The 
same  Book  has  been  adopted  by  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  ^Yith  such  alterations  as  would 
adapt  it  to  the  institutions  of  the  country  since  the 
establishment  of  American  independence,  and  with 
a  few  other  slight  amendments.  In  the  compilation 
of  this  Book,  there  was  no  disposition  to  reject  any 
thing  found  in  the  liturgy,  offices,  and  faith  of  the 
Church,  simply  because  it  came  from  the  Church  of 
Eome.  The  operation  of  that  principle  would  have 
unchristianized  the  Church  of  England.  But  the 
object  was  to  reject  the  bad,  and  save  the  good,  as 
the  only  sound  and  safe  method  of  reform.  The- 
Church  of  Rome  was  once  pure  as  well  as  Catholic  ; 
and  all,  or  neaidy  all,  that  was  ever  good  in  her,  was 
still  there.  It  Avas  her  superstitions  and  corruptions 
introduced  in  the  lapse  of  centuries,  that  required 
to  be  expurgated ;  it  was  her  numerous  absurd 
dogmas  that  needed  to  be  set  aside  ;  and  her  prepos- 
terous pretensions,  and  absorbing  claims,  which 
demanded  to  be  broken  down.  It  was  required  to 
get  back  on  the  primitive  platform,  retaining  all 
that  was  good  in  the  Church,  and  reasserting  tho 
true  Catholic  faith  of  primitive  times.  To  accom- 
plish this  end,  the  Church  of  England,  in  her  v.'ork 
of  reform,  not  only  deigned  to  use  her  discrimination 
in  drawing  from  the  ritual  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
but  she  availed  herself  of  the  work  Avhich  had 
already  been  accomplished  by  the  Protestants  on 
the  continent.  "  In  our  public  services, "  says 
Bishop  Short,  "  the  greater  part  of  the  Common 
Praver  Book   is  taken  from  the   Roman   ritual,  and 


THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  EEFORMATION. 


89 


some   portions    are    borrowed   from    tlie    Lutheran 
Churches;  or  rather  drawn  up  in  imitation  of  them. 
In  our  articles  are  contained  the  great  truths  of 
Christianity,  which  we  hold  in  common  with  tlie 
Church  of  Rome.     There  are  many  more  which  we 
derived   from    the    Lutheran    Church.      There   arc 
some  in  which  we  differ  from  both.     The  formularies 
which  distinguish  us  as  a  Christian  community,  had 
no  reference  to  the  theology  of  Geneva."     (§  341, 
§  342.)     In  Cardwell's  collation  of  "  the  two  Boohs 
of  Common  Prayer  set  forth  by  authority  of  Parlia- 
ment in  the  reign  of  King  Edward  the  Sixth,"  it  will 
be  found,  that  the  one  established  in  1549  was  essen- 
tially altered  in  that  of  1552.    It  is  the  latter  which 
is  referred  to  as  the  Prayer  Book  of  the  English 
Church.     The  alterations  afterwards  made  in  1560 
under  Elizabeth,  in  1604  under  James  I.,  in  1633 
under  Charles  I.,  and   in  1661,  the  last  revision, 
were  not   sufficient   to  impair  the  identity  of  the 
Book   of   1552.      Neither   that,   however,    nor   the 
American  Book  with  its  local  adaptations,  is  claimed 
to  be  perfect;  but  with  the  liberal  toleration,  by 
the  Church  authorities  in  both  countries,  of  some 
discrepancies  of  opinion,  under  the  common  admis- 
sion  that  the  Prayer  Book  has  its  imperfections, 
there  is  less  urgent  necessity  of  making  haste  for 
a   revision   of  it.     It   is   soundly   Protestant,    and 
thoroughly    Catholic;    and    there    is    great    reluc- 
tance  to  take  it  in   hand  for  amendment,  lest    it 
should    be    injured.       This    Book    has    ever    held, 
and    still    holds   both   the   English   and   American 
8* 


90  THE    GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

Churches  sound  in  the  Catholic  faith  ;  and  long  may 
it  do  so. 

The  Protestant  Reformation  in  England  was 
nearly  perfected  under  Edward  the  Sixth.  It  was, 
indeed,  considered  as  fully  established.  The  state 
went  forward,  hand-in-hand,  with  the  Church  ;  and 
little,  probably,  would  have  been  accomplished, 
without  the  aid  and  protection  of  the  state.  What 
would  Luther  have  done,  without  the  protection  of 
Frederick,  the  Elector  of  Saxony  ?  Unless  he  had 
been  rescued  by  a  miracle,  he  would  have  been  over- 
whelmed, and  the  cause  of  Protestantism  on  the 
continent,  would  have  fallen  with  him.  We  know 
not  how  much  we  are  indebted  to  this  joint  action  of 
Church  and  State  at  that  period.  They  were  so 
mixed  up  that  they  could  not  be  separated  in  the 
common  cause.  The  Protestant  Reformation  as 
much  concerned  civil  as  religious  liberty ;  for  the 
claims  of  the  Pope  were  spread  over  the  state  as 
well  as  over  the  Church,  in  all  countries  ;  and  it  will 
always  be  so  as  long  as  there  is  a  Pope.  There  was 
a  validity,  an  authority,  a  force,  in  the  support 
given  by  the  English  government  to  the  Protestant 
cause ;  an  authority  that  commanded  respect,  and 
a  force  which  could  not  be  despised.  It  was  the 
same  in  Frederick's  advocacy  of  the  same  cause  on 
the  continent.  The  Pope  had  the  physical  force  of 
kings  at  his  command ;  and  when  civil  liberty  was 
concerned,  it  was  natural  that  princes  should  engage 
in  the  controversy,  not  only  in  their  OAvn  defence, 
but  in  the  defence  of  those  of  their  subjects,  of  which 
the    Church   is   composed,  whose   weapons  are  not 


THE   GENIUS   OF   THE    REFORMATION.  91 

carnal  but  spiritual.  Besides,  in  the  Churcli  and 
State  establishment  of  England,  the  king  was  head 
of  the  Church,  and  ■\vas  bound  to  vindicate  her 
rights. 

By  the  death  of  Edward  the  Sixth,  and  tlie  acces- 
sion of  Mary,  the  Pope  was  again  reinstated  in  his 
power  over  England ;  and  for  five  long  years  and 
more,  the  Protestants  were  doomed  to  persecution 
and  martyrdom.  Nearly  three  hundred  were  brought 
to  the  stake,  during  this  short  reign,  headed  by 
Archbishop  Cranmer,  and  Bishops  Latimer,  Ridley, 
and  Ferrar.  Every  thing  that  power  could  do,  was 
done,  to  put  down  Protestantism  in  England,  and  to 
re-establish  Popery.  But  then,  as  ever,  the  blood 
of  martyrs  was  the  seed  of  the  church.  Protestant- 
ism, though  for  the  most  part  secretly,  spread  and 
flom-ished,  in  consequence  of  the  very  atrocities  to 
which  it  was  subjected,  till  Mary  died,  and  Elizabeth 
ascended  the  throne,  when  the  Protestant  Church  of 
England  was  fully  and  firmly  established,  never  again, 
we  trust,  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope, 
or  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  church  of 
Rome.* 

*  "  From  the  days  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  things  diil  generally  put 
on  a  new  visage  ;  and  the  Church  of  England,  since  that  time,  has 
continued  to  be  the  sanctuary  and  shelter  of  all  foreigners,  the 
chief  object  of  the  envy  and  hatred  of  the  popish  church,  and  the 
great  glory  of  the  Reformation  ;  and  has  vriscly  avoided  the  split- 
ting asunder  on  the  high  points  of  the  Divine  decrees,  which  have 
broken  so  many  of  the  Reformed  beyond  the  sea." — Burnet's  Pre- 
face to  Fart  II.,  Book  I. 

"  Thus  have  I  prosecuted  what  I  at  first  undertook,  the  progress 
of  the  Reformation,  from  its  .first  and  small  beginnings  in  Eng- 
land, till  it  came  to  a  complete  settlement  in  the  time  of  this 
Queen"  (Elizabeth).— i?!/?-nf^  end  of  Part  II,  Book  III. 


92  TnE   GENIUS   OF   THE    REFOKMATIOX. 

It  is  proper,  ho-\yever,  in  this  place,  to  remark,  that 
the  intolerance  of  Elizabeth  towards  the  Noncon- 
formists, was  the  apparent  cause  of  that  great  schism 
in  the  Church  of  England,  which  afterwards  produced 
such  immense  disaster  both  to  the  Church  and  State, 
by  the  continued  operation  of  the  same  cause  in  the 
English  government.  It  cannot  but  be  seen,  that,  if 
the  modern  toleration  of  the  British  government 
toAvards  Dissenters,  is  right,  the  severe  measures  of 
Elizabeth,  of  Charles  the  First,  and  of  other  British 
sovereigns,  towards  Nonconformists  and  the  Puritans, 
were  wrong.  It  may  also  be  remarked,  that  the 
Church  of  England  has  been  wrongfully  made  re- 
sponsible for  those  measures.  It  was  not  the  Church; 
it  was  the  State.  All  those  acts  were  acts  of  the 
State  solely.  Churchmen,  acting  as  statesmen  in 
those  times,  were  out  of  place,  and  it  would  be  unjust 
to  the  Church  to  hold  her  responsible  for  their  acts 
while  officiating  in  that  capacity.  The  great  mistake 
was,  that  the  genius  of  the  English  people  was  not 
consulted,  as  it  now  is,  in  framing  measures  of  govern- 
ment. The  people  of  England  were  ever  loyal,  but 
not  less  lovers  of  freedom.  Freedom  in  those  times, 
and  in  these  matters,  was  not  understood,  certainly 
not  conceded,  by  the  government.  It  is  equally  true  of 
.a  civil  government  and  of  a  Church,  that  both  will  dis- 
appoint their  mission,  by  refusing  to  consult  the  genius 
of  the  people  Avhere  Providence  has  planted  them. 
■  Justice  requires  us  to  muke  the  distinction  between 
the  acts  of  the  State  and  the  acts  of  the  Church,  in 
the  entire  line  and  scope  of  the  treatment  of  the 
Nonconforuiist.^  Puritnns,  and  Dissenters,  by  the 
govorninent  of  Fir:g]:nid,  fj'om   the  beginning  of  th» 


THE   GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION.  93 

reign  of  Elizabeth,  down  to  the  passage  of  the  modern 
acts  of  toleration,  which  have  removed  these  occa- 
sions of  just  complaint.  The  author  of  these  pages 
once  thought,  as  many  others  doubtless  do,  that  the 
Church  of  England  Avas  responsible  for  those  unj^ust 
measures,  or  at  least  so  mixed  up  with  them,  as  to 
deserve  reproach  on  their  account.  But  it  is  a  simple 
historical  fact,  that,  from  time  immemorial,  the  con- 
nexion of  the  Church  of  England  with  the  State,  hns 
been,  and  still  is,  on  her  part,  entirely  passive.  She 
has  always  been  a  captive  in  the  hands  of  the  State, 
and  could  never  get  out ;  and  she  is  still  a  captive 
there,  as  demonstrated  by  the  recent  acts  of  Convo- 
cation. Whenever  Churchmen,  as  in  the  case  of 
Laud,  have  figured  as  Statesmen  and  as  magistrates, 
it  was  the  State,  and  not  the  Church ;  and  the  State 
alone  was  responsible  for  their  acts.  Doubtless  there 
were  Churchmen,  high  in  rank,  who  sympathised  nith 
those  unjust  measures ;  but  still  they  were  acts  of  the 
State  alone.  The  Church  of  England,  as  a  Church, 
was  never  committed  to  them,  was  never  responsible 
for  them.  This  principle  runs  through  the  whole 
history  of  the  Church  of  England,  in  her  connexion 
with  the  State.  That  she  has  always  been  in  the 
hands  of  the  State,  was  an  ordering  of  Providence. 
She  has  never  been  responsible  for  the  acts  of  the 
State,  though  she  has  suffered  great  reproach  on 
account  of  them,  when  they  were  made  to  bear 
oppressively  on  Nonconformists,  Puritans,  and  Dis- 
senters, for  the  sake  of  the  Church,  in  those  affairs 
which  the  State,  in  its  own  sovereignty,  undertook  to 
manage.     The  position  of  all  classes  of  dissenters  at 


94  THE   GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

this  day,  is  purely  political,  and  always  has  been. 
Their  complaints  are  against  the  government.  The 
government  of  Great  Britain  has  learned  too  late, 
that  its  own  former  acts  of  oppression  were  the 
cause  of  the  immense  schisms  in  the  Church,  which 
even  modern  toleration  cannot  heal. 

If,  therefore,  we  look  at  the  facts  of  history,  we 
shall  find,  that  the  government  of  England,  though 
an  "  ordinance  of  God"  for  the  accomplishment  of 
his  own  purposes,  was  a  very  corrupt  institution, 
when  it  was  used  as  an  instrument  of  rescuing  the 
Church  from  Papacy ;  that  the  government  of  Edward 
the  Sixth  was  pure,  and  that  the  Reformation  under 
him,  made  an  immense  stride  ;  that  Elizabeth,  though 
a  Protestant,  was  cruel  and  tyrannical  towards  Non- 
conformists ;  that  Charles  the  First,  and  his  gov- 
cnuncnt  so  exasperated  the  English  nation,  us  to 
cause  his  throne  and  the  Church  to  be  borne  down  by 
the  tempest;  and  that  by  the  fault  of  the  State,  for 
a  long  period,  the  Church,  always  in  the  hands  of  the 
State,  suffered  the  greatest  disadvantages,  and  passed 
tlirough  the  most  painful  vicissitudes,  Avithout  remedy. 
]>ut  the  Church  was  not  responsible  for  the  fiiults  of 
the  State  in  administering  her  affairs.  She  was  a 
sufferer,  but  not  the  actor,  in  those  unfortunate 
transactions. 

But  to  return  from  this  digression.  Not  to  notice 
the  political  advantages  to  England,  derived  from  the 
Protestant  Reformation,  which  do  not  fall  directly 
within  the  scope  of  our  purpose,  we  will  here  con- 
clude our  notice  of  the  English  branch  of  that  great 


THE    GENIUS   OF   THE    REFORMATION.  95 

and  eventful  movement,  in  a  few  "words  of  Bishop 
Short,  on  its  spiritual  results  : 

"  We  have  learned  thereby  the  fundamental  truth 
on  -which  the  whole  of  Christianity  rests,  nay,  which 
is  itself  Christianity:  That  we  are  accounted  right- 
eous before  God  only  for  the  merit  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  by  faith,  and  not  of  our  own 
works,  or  deservings ;  that  good  works,  however 
pleasing  to  God,  are  only  accepted  as  proofs  of  the 
faith  which  we  entertain  in  the  mercy  of  heaven,  and 
as  proceeding  from  love  towards  him  who  hath  re- 
deemed us ;  that  acts  of  penitence,  however  sincere, 
can  in  no  sense  be  deemed  a  compensation  for  our 
sin,  although  they  may  prove  useful  to  ourselves  in 
preventing  the  repetition  of  our  crimes ;  and  that 
there  is  no  sacrifice  for  sin  but  the  atonement  that 
was  once  offered  on  the  Cross. 

"  The  establishment  of  these  truths  virtually  got 
rid  of  the  greater  part  of  the  superstitious  rites,  with 
which  religion  had  been  overwhelmed,  and  she  was 
again  enthroned  in  the  heart  of  the  true  believer,  in- 
stead of  being  identified  with  ceremonious  observ- 
ances. A  Communion  had  been  substituted  in  lieu 
of  the  Mass,  the  efficacy  of  which  consists  in  the 
institution  of  Christ,  and  the  state  of  the  conscience, 
and  not  in  the  m;igic  virtue  of  priestly  offices.  The 
personal  responsibility  of  the  individual  Christian 
was  clearly  insisted  on ;  and  though  the  laity  were 
not  deprived  of  the  comfort  and  aid  of  spiritual  guid- 
ance, yet  that  inquisitorial  power  which  the  clergy 
bad  exercised,  by  means  of  auricular  confessions,  was 
removed,  and  the  priesthood  became  the  directors  of 


96  THE    GENIUS    OF   THE    llilFORMATION. 

their  flocks,  und  not  the  self-constituted  judges  on 
which  pardon  miglit  be  obtained  from  the  Almighty. 
They  were  still  the  keepers  of  the  keys  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven ;  but  by  the  dissemination  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  progress  of  education,  the  rest 
of  their  brethren  were  permitted  to  guide  their  own 
footsteps  towards  the  gates  of  paradise.  The  Bible 
was  indeed  committed  to  their  peculiar  care;  but  it 
was  not  withheld  from  the  hands  of  the  people ;  so 
that  though  it  was  their  especial  duty  to  lead  on  their 
fellow  servants,  in  the  right  path,  yet  they  could  no 
longer,  like  the  lawyers  of  old,  take  away  the  key 
from  others,  or  prevent  those  from  entering  in  who 
would  gladly  do  so.  All  were  taught  to  examine  for 
themselves.  .  .  The  first  great  step  towards  religious 
liberty  was  irrevocably  taken,  when  it  was  authori- 
tatively stated  (Articles  of  Religion,  XXI.),  that 
every  assembly  of  human  beings  was  liable  to  err, 
even  in  things  pertaining  to  God.  At  the  same  time 
a  very  material  diminution  was  made  in  the  power 
of  the  Church,  considered  as  a  body  distinct  from 
the  laity,  when  the  clergy  were  allowed  to  connect 
themselves  with  the  rest  of  society,  by  those  ties  of 
matrimony  which  the  law  of  God  has  left  open  to 
all."  (§  413.) 

The  Oontinental  Reformation. 

Martin  Luther  was  an  obedient  son  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  had  done  her  some  service,  and  was  dis- 
posed to  do  more ;  and  he  would  never  have  lifted 
up  bis  hand  against  her,  if  his  fealty  to  God  had  not 


THE   GENIUS   OF   THE   REFORMATION.  97 

been  stronger  than  his  attachment  to  Rome.  All 
the  mighty  spirits  of  the  Reformers,  Anglican  and 
Continental,  sympathizing  in  a  common  cause,  ■were 
made  mighty  by  a  sense  of  the  mighty  wrongs  en- 
dured. Their  natural  endowments,  superior  though 
they  were,  would  probably  never  have  figured  con- 
spicuously in  history,  but  for  the  occasion  that  forced 
them  into  vigorous  action.  The  atrocities  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  had  mounted  into  contempt  for  the 
opinions  of  mankind,  and  into  an  impious  defiance 
of  the  throne  of  heaven.  Never  before,  nor  since, 
did  that  machinery  of  iniquity  and  crime  tower  so 
loftily,  or  stride  onward  with  such  audacity,  or  show 
itself  so  confident  of  irresistible  sway,  as  in  the  former 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Its  framework  was 
then  complete,  and  it  has  never  since  been  improved, 
except  in  the  development  of  the  grand  conception 
of  Ignatius  Loyola.  The  Primate  of  all  Christendom 
had  nothing  left  to  acquire,  as  the  Vicar  of  God  on 
earth,  and  occupied  the  summit  of  command  over 
tliis  world  and  the  future,  so  far  as  man  is  interested 
in  either.  Every  pretension  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
had  been  put  forward  in  its  full  dimensions,  and  was 
generally  conceded ;  every  dogma  had  been  framed 
and  shaped  to  its  exact  purpose,  and  been  long  in 
vogue ;  every  part  of  the  stupendous  machinery 
seemed  well  adjusted ;  and  the  world  awaited  the 
doing  of  its  work.  "  Quem  Deus  vult  perdere,  prius 
dementat."  Whom  God  will  destroy,  he  first  makes 
mad. 

That  was  the  hour  of  destiny  for  the  Church  of 
Rome.      She  was   indeed  mad.      Intoxicated  with 

9 


98  THE    GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

power,  she  rushed  on  Germany,  to  crush  the  spirits, 
which  her  own  atrocities  had  stirred  up.  She  had 
made  them  what  they  were,  no  longer  filial,  but 
questioning  her  authority,  never  before  questioned ; 
and  to  unmake  such  a  work  of  her  own  hand,  was 
not  an  easy  task.  It  was  a  mighty  struggle,  and 
one  in  which  the  world  then,  and  in  all  future  time, 
AA'as  interested.  In  connexion  with  what  was  a.t  the 
same  time  going  on  in  England,  it  was  the  great  bat- 
tle of  freedom  on  earth,  not  indeed  for  its  instant 
maturity,  but  to  fix  a  fulcrum  for  the  lever  of  all  its 
future  operations.  The  greatest  blessing  to  man 
comes  not  without  cost,  or  without  time.  If  so  many 
centuries  were  required  for  the  erection  of  this 
mighty  machine  for  man's  oppression,  can  it  reason- 
ably be  expected  to  take  less  than  centuries  to  re- 
deem man  from  the  consequences  of  so  great  a 
delinquency  as  the  permission  of  this  great  wrong 
to  himself? 

Germany,  thoroughly  roused  to  resistance,  and 
Rome,  bent  on  vengeance,  met  in  conflict,  with 
Martin  Luther  to  lead  on  one  side,  and  the  legate 
of  the  Pope  on  the  other ;  the  former  armed  with 
truth  and  a  consciousness  of  right,  and  the  latter 
backed  by  all  the  power  of  the  Pope,  then  mighty 
and  dominant  in  Europe.  It  was  a  direct  encounter 
of  the  pure  principles  of  Christianity  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Church  of  Rome ;  and  it  presented  an 
opportunity  to  show,  in  open  debate,  that  the  poles 
of  the  earth  could  not  be  wider  apart,  or  point  in 
directions  more  distinctly  opposite.  The  Church  of 
Rome,  for  a  long  succession  of  ages,  had  been  grow- 


THE   GEXIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION".  99 

ing  up  to  her  full  stature,  and  extending  the  domain 
of  her  influence,  with  little  opposition  from  within, 
and  had  never  failed  easily  to  put  it  down  when  it 
started  up.  She  was  not  accustomed  to  grapple 
with  such  sturdy  sons  as  Martin  Luther  and  his 
coadjutors.  This,  with  the  corresponding  movement 
in  England,  constituted  an  epoch  in  her  own  history, 
as  well  as  in  the  history  of  the  world — an  epoch  of 
her  own  creation,  forced  upon  her  by  her  folly,  by 
her  presumption,  by  her  arrogance,  by  her  blind 
trust  in  that  machinery  of  iniquity  which  she  had  so 
long  wielded  with  such  skill  and  success.  "While 
Germany,  waked  up  to  rebellion,  and  led  on  by 
Luther  in  vindication  of  the  proper  genius  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  of  the  rights  of  that  conscience  which  God 
has  planted  in  the  breast  of  man ;  of  the  rights  of 
the  true  Church ;  of  the  rights  of  humanity  as 
embodied,  or  intended  to  be  embodied,  in  the  polities 
of  nations — all  in  opposition  to  such  claims  as 
those  of  the  Church  of  Rome ; — while  Germany, 
we  say,  stood  waiting  for  the  onset,  the  legate  of  the 
Pope  presented  himself,  not  for  a  parley,  but  for 
submission ;  and  to  demand  the  person  of  the  chief 
offender,  to  be  tried  at  Rome,  whose  fate  there  was 
already  sealed ;  to  be  followed  up  by  signal  ven- 
geance on  his  sympathizers  and  coadjutors.  It  was  a 
dream  of  easy  victory  on  the  part  of  him,  who  "  as 
God  sat  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that 
he  was  God."  What !  a  monk  oppose  a  Pope,  and 
lift  his  hand  against  the  papal  throne  with  success  ! 
Could  any  body  imagine  that  ?  But  the  monk  had 
a  potent  right  against  a   stupendous  wrong.     The 


100    THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  KEFORMATION. 

monk  ^yas  a  man  for  the  times,  for  the  worhl,  for  all 
succeeding  time.  The  monk  had  been  a  student  in 
the  Scriptures,  and  in  the  polity  of  the  Church  of 
Rome.  The  monk  had  well  considered  the  arrogant 
pretensions  of  the  Pope,  and  the  absurd  and  blas- 
phemous dogmas  of  the  hierarchy.  The  monk  had 
been  baptized  with  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity. 
The  monk  had  a  conscience,  and  respected  its 
behests ;  he  had  learning,  and  knew  how  to  use  it ; 
he  had  had  opportunity  to  give  his  thoughts  to  the 
public,  and  to  educate  a  prince  and  a  people  in  his 
own  principles,  before  he  Avas  called  to  account. 
The  monk  was  endowed  with  courage,  and  feared 
not  "  as  many  devils  as  there  were  tiles  on  the  roofs 
of  the  houses  at  "Worms."  In  short,  the  monk, 
taking  the  Bible  as  a  text,  understood  it  and  imbibed 
its  spirit ;  he  understood  the  true  genius  of  Christi- 
anity ;  he  understood  the  ground  on  Avhich  he  stood, 
as  firm  and  impregnable,  and  that  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  as  utterly  defective,  and  dangerous  to  stand 
upon.  He  knew  her  whole  structure  was  a  figment 
of  art,  and  of  man's  device,  mighty,  indeed,  but  yet 
a  product  of  human  invention,  for  political  ends,  on 
a  magnificent  scale.  The  monk,  by  his  preaching 
and  by  his  pen,  had  waked  up  the  reason  of  all 
Germany,  and  taught  the  world  how  "to  use  it  for 
the  occasion.  He  had  broken  the  spell  which  held 
under  ban  the  right  of  private  judgment  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  Scriptures,  and  as  to  all  spiritual 
things,  thereby  restoring  the  germ  of  freedom  which 
is  destined  to  groAV  into  a  trunk  that  shall  defy  the 
winds  and  storms  of  heaven,  and  spread  its  branches 


THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  REFORMATION.     101 

over  all  the  earth.  For,  however  many  things  there 
may  be  to  regret,  as  the  first  results  of  diversity  and 
collision  of  opinion,  it  is  the  only  path  of  freedom, 
the  great  highway  to  ultimate  and  universal  concord ; 
inasmuch  as  constant  discontent,  constant  liability 
to  convulsions  in  society,  and  constant  abuse  of  the 
denial  of  the  right,  always  have  been,  and  can  never 
fail  to  be,  concomitants  of  this  usurpation. 

Luther  had  done  much  more :  he  had  shown  tho 
enormity  of  indulgences ;  he  had  demolished  the 
confessional,  and  scattered  its  fragments  to  the 
winds ;  he  had  asserted  the  rights  of  conscience  as 
independent  of  all  human  authority ;  he  had  denied 
the  primacy  and  infallibility  of  the  Pope  ;  he  had 
denounced  the  doctrine  of  purgatory ;  he  had  restored 
the  sacraments  of  Christianity,  Baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper,  to  their  original  position,  in  distinc- 
tion from  those  foisted  into  that  place  by  the  Church 
of  Rome;  he  had  denounced  monasteries  and  con- 
vents as  corrupt  and  abominable  institutions  ;  and  in 
contempt  of  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  took  to 
himself  a  wife.  In  short,  Luther  protested  against 
the  Pope,  and  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  these  and 
many  other  particulars,  and  in  the  face  of  all  Europe 
and  of  the  world,  he  defied  and  braved  the  Papal 
authority  and  power.  We  know  the  sequel :  he 
succeeded,  and  Germany  was  revolutionized. 

We  know  that  Luther  was  not  alone  in  the  great 
work  of  the  continental  Reformation.  lie  had  his 
predecessors,  such  as  Wiclif  and  IIuss ;  he  had 
his  contemporaries,  such  as  Melancthon  and  Zuino^- 
lius ;  he  had  successors,  to  carry  on  the  work,  in 

9* 


102  THE    GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

Gcrraanj,  in  Switzcrlanil,  and  in  Holland ;  and  he 
had  a  mighty  protector  in  Frederick,  Elector  of 
Saxony.  But  Luther's  personal  endeavors  consti- 
tuted the  turning  point  of  the  continental  Reforma- 
tion. By  his  hand,  the  Papal  power  and  pretensions, 
and  all  that  constitutes  the  peculiar  polity  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  received  a  blow  from  which  they 
have  never  recovered,  and  never  can  recover.  It 
vras  mortal.  Such  a  monster  may  be  a  long  time 
dying ;  but  it  was  doomed  in  the  unequal  contest 
with  the  Reformers. 

We  do  not  mean  to  exalt  Martin  Luther  above  his 
merits,  nor  to  present  him  as  a  model  of  character 
in  all  things.  He  was  a  rough  man,  and  might, 
perhaps,  be  called  rash  ;  and  he  went  off  the  stage 
holding  some  unripe  opinions.  A  man  does  not 
leap,  at  a  single  bound,  from  a  world  of  error  into 
the  possession  of  all  truth.  "We  see  Luther  groping 
very  much  in  the  dark,  and  undecided  what  to  do, 
at  least  how  far  to  go,  when  he  first  began  his  great 
work.  Indeed,  his  work  was  not  a  plan  of  his  own, 
but  a  plan  of  Providence.  A  child  of  a  high  destiny 
never  reads  beforehand  the  chapter  of  his  own  future 
history ;  but  comes  to  his  several  tasks,  step  by  step. 
He  is  qualified  for  them  by  succeeding  events.  So 
was  it  with  Luther.  In  every  stage  of  his  extraor- 
dinary career,  once  begun,  he  was  waked  up  to  new 
calls  of  duty,  and  forced  to  new  efforts  by  new 
exigencies.  It  was  a  long  time  before  he  got  half 
way  in  the  field  which  he  afterwards  occupied.  He 
grappled  with  the  abominations  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  one  by  one,  and  he  never  fairly  got  hold  of 


THE   GENIUS    OF   THE   REFORMATION.  103 

them  all.  He  was  neither  a  ripe,  nor  an  accom- 
plished scholar,  though  a  great  and  successful  stu- 
dent ;  but  he  was  a  genius,  which  sees  intuitively ; 
he  was  honest  and  true  to  himself,  to  man,  to  God ; 
he  was  bold,  audacious,  else  he  never  would  have 
begun  the  work  which  he  finished.  He  had  the 
biggest  soul  in  all  Germany,  if  not  in  all  the  world. 
He  was  the  grand  instrument  of  Providence  for  the 
occasion  ;  and  that  is  enough.  Though  Luther  was 
a  prince  of  Reformers,  he  did  not  make  clean  work 
of  the  Reformation.  How  could  he  ?  It  was  too 
great  a  work  for  one  man,  or  for  one  age.  But  he 
dealt  a  mighty  blow  on  the  head  of  "  the  beast,  " 
that  made  him  reel ;  he  stripped  "  the  woman  "  that 
sat  upon  the  beast  of  her  gorgeous  toilet,  and 
exposed  her  shame ;  he  greatly  helped  to  prepare 
the  way  for  Christendom  to  be  redeemed  from  its 
long  and  grievous  bondage ;  and  if  that  does  not 
recommend  him  to  a  place  in  the  calendar  of  saints 
at  Rome,  it  qualifies  him  eminently  to  be  held  in 
respect  and  esteem  by  all  mankind. 

Though  Luther  vras  necessarily  a  theologian,  he 
was  not  an  over  nice  one.  He  never  did  any  thing 
nicely.  A  nice  man  could  never  have  done  his  rough 
work  ;  a  prudent  man  would  have  shrunk  from  his 
perilous  enterprize.  Had  he  dreamed  of  it  himself 
beforehand,  even  his  spirit  might  have  been  ap]>alled. 
But  the  cause  which  required  his  agency  was,  in 
every  stage,  the  school  of  his  training.  He  had  no 
leisure  for  the  study  of  metaphysics,  or  for  the  hair- 
splitting distinctions  of  modern  theological  schools. 
But  he  was  a  straight  forward  man  of  God,  who  felt 


104    THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

that  he  had  a  mission  from  God,  and  that  he  must 
fulfil  it,  though  all  the  armies  of  hell  were  in  his 
path.* 

Comparison  of  the  two  Movements  of  the  Heforma- 
tion,  Anglicaji  and  Continental,  and  of  their 
Results. 

It  has  been  seen,  that  the  movement  began  in 
England,  through  the  instrumentality  of  Wiclif, 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  it  came  to 
a  crisis  there  and  on  the  continent ;  and  that  Wiclif 

•  "  So  small  a  spark  as  that  collision  "  (of  the  Church  of  Homo 
■with  Luther  and  his  coadjutors),  "made,  could  never  have  raised 
so  great  a  fire,  if  the  world  had  not  been  strongly  disposed  to  it 
hy  the  just  prejudices  they  had  conceived  against  the  popish 
clergy,  whose  ignorance  and  lewd  lives  had  laid  them  so  open  to 
contempt  and  hatred,  that  any  one  that  would  set  himself  against 
them,  could  not  but  be  kindly  looked  on  by  the  people.  They 
(the  clergy,)  had  engrossed  the  greater  part  both  of  the  riches 
and  power  of  Christendom,  and  lived  at  their  ease,  and  in  much 
wealth;  and  the  corruptions  of  their woi'ship  and  doctrine  were 
such,  that  a  very  small  portion  of  common  sense,  with  but  a  slight 
looking  into  the  New  Testament,  discovered  them.  Nor  had  they 
any  other  varnish  to  cover  them  by,  but  the  authority  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  Church.  But  when  some  studious  men  began  to  read 
the  ancient  fathers  and  councils,  they  found  a  vast  ditfercncc  be- 
tween the  first  five  ages  (centuries)  of  the  Christian  Church,  in 
which  piety  and  learning  prevailed,  and  the  last  ten  ages  (cen- 
turies) in  which  ignorance  had  buried  all  their  former  learning  ; 
only  a  little  misguided  devotijin  was  retained  for  six  of  these 
ages  (centuries),  and  in  the  last  foicr,  the  restless  ambition  and 
usurpations  of  the  Popes  were  supported  b}'  the  seeming  holiness 
of  the  begging  friars,  and  the  false  counterfeits  of  learning,  which 
were  among  the  canonists,  schoolmen,  and  casuists  ;  so  that,  not- 
withstanding all  the  opposition  of  princes,  it  was  incredible  to  see 
how  nicu  were  generally  inclined  to  these  (new)  doctrines." — 
/>uniet\i  Rrformalion,  Part  /.,   Hook  I. 


THE    GENU'S    OF    THE    nEFORMATION.  105 

dul  a  great  work  of  preparation.  The  effects  ho 
produced  constituted  a  broad  platform  of  future  ope- 
rations, in  England,  in  Germany,  in  Holland,  in 
Switzerland,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  continent. 
AVe  have  also  seen,  that,  when  these  affairs  came  to 
a  crisis  in  England,  and  in  the  progress  of  tho 
Reformation  there,  they  were  managed  and  con- 
trolled by  the  strong  hand  of  the  civil  power ;  that 
the  Church  of  England  was  not  broken  up,  but  that 
she  maintained  her  integrity,  and  her  Catholic  cha- 
racter ;  that  her  Episcopal  organization  was  not  at 
all  disturbed ;  that  the  work  of  compiling  a  liturgy, 
and  preparing  articles  of  faith,  under  Edward  the 
Sixth,  Avas  calm  and  sensible,  not  refusing  to  take 
what  was  good  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
rejecting  the  bad ;  also  consenting  to  be  indebted  to 
the  Lutherans ;  and  finally,  that  the  Church  of 
England  came  out  from  the  trial,  whole,  sound,  with 
provisions  in  her  organization,  in  her  liturgy,  in  her 
offices,  and  in  her  faith,  fitted  for  all  ages,  so  that 
they  have  not  required  to  be  essentially  altered  down 
to  this  time — a  space  of  three  hundred  years.  These, 
it  must  be  acknowledged,  are  very  remarkable  facts. 
The  Reformation  in  England  was  achieved  compara- 
tively Avithout  passion.  The  public  policy  of  the 
government  seems  to  have  been  always  in  the  lead, 
and  to  have  kept  its  hand  upon  the  movement  as  a 
national  interest.  Nor  is  the  Church  liable  to  the 
reproach  which  has  sometimes  been  cast  upon  her 
for  this  connexion.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  pro- 
videntially ordered,  to  combine  precisely  the  two 
agencies,   in    opposing    and    putting   down    Papacy, 


106     THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

which  tlic  case  required ;  and  it  Avas  no  where  done 
so  well,  and  "with  so  happy  a  result,  as  in  England. 
The  very  thing  so  desirahlc  to  be  accomplished  in 
the  Reformation,  as  an  incident — and  a  most  impor- 
tant one — was  there  achieved,  to  wit,  that  the  fabric 
of  the  Church,  as  a  Church,  should  neither  be 
shaken,  nor  disturbed,  not  only  that  she  might 
maintain  her  Catholic  attitude,  but  that  she  might  be 
fully  armed,  by  her  organization  and  liturgy,  to  hold 
and  vindicate  the  Catholic  faith  in  coming  ages  of 
trial,  for  the  want  of  Avhich  other  portions  of  the 
Protestant  world,  for  instance  Germany,  have  so 
signally  failed  to  keep  "  the  faith  once  delivered  to 
the  saints." 

Besides,  the  very  idea  of  Protestant,  in  connexion 
with  the  history  which  has  caused  the  name  l!0  be  so 
applied,  as  much  concerns  civil  as  religious  liberty, 
inasmuch  as  the  claims  of  the  Pope  sweep  over  both 
these  fields  without  qualification  and  without  limit. 
There  is  this  peculiarity  in  the  position  of  all  poli- 
tical fabrics,  since  the  Protestant  Reformation,  viz., 
that  the  civil  power,  all  the  world  over,  is  interested 
in  the  vindication  of  the  rights  of  Protestant  Churches, 
against  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  cannot  escape  from 
the  obligation,  so  far  as  civil  or  political  power  is 
necessary.  A  simple  demonstration  may  be  sufficient, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  who  took 
Luther  under  his  protection,  without  which,  nothing 
but  a  miracle  could  have  saved  the  Reformation  in 
that  quarter,  at  that  time.  All  the  Protestant  so- 
vereigns of  England,  since  the  Reformation,  have 
occupied  that  position,  and  that  is  the  position  of 


THE    GENIUS    OF    THE    REFOllMATION.  107 

Queen  Victoria  at  this  moment.  The  whole  power 
of  the  British  cnipire  is  pledged  in  this  cause ;  and 
as  long  as  the  Church  of  Rome  maintains  her  pre- 
sent attitude,  ■witli  her  present  principles,  there  will 
never  cease  to  be  occasion  for  all  nations,  lovins 
freedom,  to  stand  upon  their  arms,  in  relation  to 
these  pretensions,  preposterous  as  they  are.  For 
they  are  yet  backed  by  a  stupendous  power,  physical 
and  political. 

The  importance  of  the  Reformation  on  the  conti- 
nent, as  a  movement  separate  from  that  of  England, 
under  Martin  Luther  as  its  great  champion,  cannot 
be  easily  overestimated,  whether  we  regard  it  as 
bearing  on  the  civil  or  religious  rights  of  mankind ; 
although  we  shall  necessarily  find  in  it  a  radical 
defect,  the  unavoidable  results  of  which  have  been 
unfortunate,  and  in  some  respects  disastrous  to  the 
faith  of  Christianity.  The  blow  on  the  power-  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  was  vigorous  and  effective.  It  was 
more  astounding  than  any  other  single  movement  of 
the  Protestant  Reformation.  The  world  saw  and 
admired,  and  will  never  cease  to  admire,  the  heroic 
courage  and  dauntless  bearing  of  the  great  Reformer. 
Indeed,  there  was,  in  the  part  he  acted,  in  that 
profound  and  comprehensive  agony  of  the  social 
state,  so  much  to  dazzle  the  eyes  of  observers  then 
and  ever  since,  that  the  world,  in  its  admiration  of 
that  which  was  so  truly  great,  has  almost  overlooked 
other  equally,  perhaps  more  important  branches  of 
the  Reformation,  carried  on  in  a  more  quiet  way. 
Martin  Luther  was  the  hero  of  a  great  drama. 
Single  and  alone,  so  far  as  intellectual  and   moral 


108  THE    UEXIUS    OF    TIfS    REFOSIMATIOX. 

power  ^Yas  coiiccrnod,  he  battled  with  and  baffled  the 
most  gigantic  power  which  has  ever  appeared  on 
earth.  Thanks  to  Frederick,  who  resolved  to  sus- 
tain him,  and  without  wliusc  protection  he  Avould 
have  fallen.  His  victory  was  a  complete  and  lasting 
triumph  for  Germany,  and  for  the  world. 

Though  the  benefits  of  the  Reformation  by  Luther 
have  been  great  and  enduring,  he  was  rather  a 
breaker  down  of  that  which  was  bad,  than  a  builder 
up  of  that  which  was  most  needed  at  that  juncture. 
He  was  more  of  a  destructive  than  of  a  conservative. 
Fortunately,  however,  his  destructive  aims  were  well 
directed. 

The  Church  of  Rome  had  nearly  every  thing  in 
her,  from  primitive  times  downward,  that  was  wanted 
for  a  Reformed  Church.  She  had  an  Apostolic  minis- 
try ;  she  had  the  true  catholic  faith ;  she  had  com- 
mon liturgical  services  and  special  offices  of  great 
value.  A  most  perfect  ritual  could  be  found  there. 
All  these  were  things  which  were  wanted  in  a  Church 
reformed  out  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  which 
could  not  safely  be  dispensed  with.  A  wise  and 
sound  reform  takes  the  good,  and  throws  away  the 
bad.  The  very  idea  of  a  reform,  supposes  a  result 
of  this  kind.  And  yet,  so  far  as  appears,  the  conti- 
nental Reformation  was  not  sufficiently  careful  in 
these  particulars ;  but  v,^ent  on,  for  the  most  part,  to 
build  up  all  things  new.  If  an  Apostolic  ministry 
could  not  be  obtained  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  it 
might,  probably,  have  been  obtained  from  that  of 
England.  New  creeds,  new  articles  of  faith,  and 
new  offices   of  religion,  one  v:\rying  from   another, 


THE    GENIUS    OF    THE    RErOHMATION.  109 

were  formed  and  introduced,  in  different  parts  of  tlie 
Continental  Reformed  Churches.  For  the  most  part, 
they  ■were  sound ;  but  all  of  them  wanted  the  sanc- 
tion and  unction  of  time.  The  forms  of  religion  are 
ripened  and  mellowed  by  time  only.  If  good,  the 
older  they  are,  so  much  the  better.  To  reject  any 
thing  simply  because  it  came  from  the  Church  of 
Rome,  was  most  unwise. 

If  all  the  branches  of  the  Reformation  had  been 
careful  to  secure  to  themselves  an  Episcopal  minis- 
try ;  if  they  had  adopted  liturgical  services,  such  as 
Calvin  recommended  iii  his  letter  to  the  Lord  Pro- 
tector of  England  in  1548,  such  as  John  Knox  once 
prepared  for  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  such  as 
the  "Directory  for  the  public  worship  of  God" 
ordered  for  the  three  kingdoms  by  Parliament  during 
the  Commonwealth ;  and  if  they  had  embodied  in 
such  liturgies  and  public  offices  the  entire  Catholic 
faith,  that  it  should  never  cease  to  act  upon  the 
common  mind  as  the  sun  and  rain  of  heaven  act 
upon  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  can  it  be  imagined, 
would  it  have  been  morally  possible,  that  such  signal 
defections  from  the  Christian  faith  should  have  taken 
place,  as  those  which  have  been  witnessed  in  Pi-o- 
tcstant  communities,  on  the  continent  of  Europe  ? 
Behold  how  the  Catholic  faith,  adopted  at  the  Pro- 
testant Reformation,  has  been  maintained,  word  for 
word,  syllable  for  syllable,  by  the  Church  of  England, 
and  in  the  American  Episcopal  Church  !  How  is  this 
difference  of  result  to  be  accounted  for,  except  it  be 
ia  the  internal  structure  and  economy  of  the  respec- 
tive bodies  in  question  ?  If  that  bo  the  cause — doubt- 
10 


110  THE   GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

less   it   is — it   aftbrds   a  lesson   of  most  significant 
import,  as  well  as  of  a  most  practical  character. 

It  does  not  appear,  tliat  any  branch  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  ever  existed  without  Episcopacy,  till  the 
continental  Reformation  ventured  upon  the  respon- 
sible experiment.  Over  the  entire  field  of  the  oper- 
ations of  Luther  and  Calvin,  and  of  their  co-adjutors, 
the  result  has  been  most  disastrous  to  the  Catholic 
faith.  Probably  a  part  of  these  deplorable  conse- 
quences has  been  OAving  to  other  concurrent  causes, 
such  as  the  want  of  a  common  liturgy,  andthe  Creeds 
incorporated  with  it.  Wherever  we  find  Episcopacy 
and  a  liturgy,  we  generally  find  the  Catholic  faith  in 
its  purity.  Is  not  this  great  fact  instructive  ?  "We 
are  also  advised  by  it,  that  the  non-episcopal  branches 
of  the  Christian  family  cannot  date  farther  back 
than  about  three  centuries. 

TJie  Reformation  in  Scotland. 

The  crisis  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland  was  not 
developed  so  soon  as  in  England  and  Germany ;  and 
it  was  accomplished  by  force  of  arms.  "  The  events 
which  there  contributed,"  says  Bishop  Short,  "  to 
throw  down  the  power  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  are 
so  totally  different  from  those  which  produced  the 
same  effect  in  England,  that  it  was  scarcely  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  two  nations  should  regard  their 
Church  in  the  same  light.  .  .  .  All  truths,  and  par- 
ticularly moral  truths,  are  likely  to  be  disseminated 
to  the  greatest  advantage,  when  the  process  is  slow, 
and  when  the  several  stages  are  gradually  communi- 


THE   GENIUS   OF   THE   REFORMATION  111 

cated  to  those  most  interested  in  their  admission  or 
rejection.  In  England  the  class  of  Reformers  was 
numerous  long  before  the  time  of  Luther ;  and  the 
Bible  was  here  appealed  to,  as  the  standard  of 
opinion,  long  before  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation  in 
Germany.  ...  In  England,  during  the  reign  of 
Edward  YL,  the  Reformation  was  carried  on  chiefly 
by  the  government,  and  outstripped  the  opinions  of 
the  people.  In  Scotland,  the  feelings  of  the  people 
were  favorable  to  the  Reformation,  and  the  only  hope 
of  its  final  establishment  was  connected  in  their 
minds  with  the  praspect  of  success  entertained  by 
those  who  must  be  vieAved  as  rebels."  (§  491,  §  494.) 
The  Queen  had  returned  for  answer  to  the  exhor- 
tations of  the  Kirk,  that  she  could  not  be  persuaded 
into  their  religion  ;  whereupon  the  Kirk  replied,  that 
"  this  is  no  small  grief  to  the  Christian  hearts  of  her 
godly  subjects,  considering,  that  the  trumpet  of 
Christ's  Gospel -has  been  so  long  blowing  in  this 
country,  and  his  mercy  so  plainly  offered  in  the  same. 
.  .  .  Our  religion  is  not  else  than  the  same  which 
Christ  in  the  last  days  revealed.  .  .  .  "We  most 
reverently  require,  in  the  name  of  the  Eternal  God, 
that  her  majesty  would  embrace  the  means  whereby 
she  may  be  persuaded  in  the  truth,"  preaching,  etc. 
{Burnet,  Records,  Part  III.)  But  in  that  she  could 
not  acquiesce.  Nevertheless,  the  Kirk  carried  the 
Reformation,  with  such  menace  of  force  as  prevailed. 
"  One  thing,"  says  Bishop  Burnet,  "  is  not  a  little 
to  the  honor  of  Knox  and  his  fullowers,  in  that  tumul- 
tuary Reformation,   that  the  multitude  was  so  gov- 


112  THE    GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

crned,   even  amidst   all   that   popular    heat,  that  no 
blood  was  shed." 

The  Reformation  Tras  consummated  by  four  acts 
of  Parliament :  "  One  for  abolishing  the  Pope's  power ; 
a  second,  for  the  repealing  of  all  laws  made  in  favor 
of  the  former  superstition ;  a  third,  for  the  punish- 
ing of  those  that  said  or  heard  mass ;  and  the  fourth 
was  a  confirmation  of  the  Confession  of  faith.  This 
last  was  planned  by  Knox."  {Bwnet's  Reforma- 
tion, Part  II.,  Book  III.)  Probably  these  acts  all 
owed  their  origin  to  Knox,  who  was  the  governing 
spirit  of  the  time. 

All  branches  of  the  Reformation  on  the  Continent 
may  be  regarded  as  constituting  one  body,  ramifying 
from  the  Germanic  column.  In  the  movement  at 
Geneva,  with  Calvin  at  its  head,  there  was,  perhaps, 
more  independence  of  Luther's  lead,  than  in  any 
other ;  and  on  account  of  the  theological  debate, 
started  by  Calvin,  it  had  a  peculiar  character,  and  a 
specific  influence. 

Our  first  remark  on  the  genius  of  the  Reformation, 
is,  that  it  was  naturally  and  necessarily  a  correlative 
of  the  genius  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  having  pre- 
cisely those  attributes  which  constitute  the  opposites 
of  the  vices  of  that  Church,  and  which  were  required 
to  encounter  and  subdue  them.  It  was  a  genius  of 
a  decided  and  vigorous  character,  not  unlike  that  of 
the  primitive  church,  which  was  ready  for  martyr- 
dom, and  in  a  host  of  instances  attained  that  distinc- 
tion. It  was  a  genius  which  gave  character,  and  a 
new  character,  to  the  ago,  in  a  very  wide  extent.  It 
made  an   indelible  stamp  in  history,   and  secured  a 


THE   GENIUS   OF   THE   REFORMATION.  113 

perpetuity  of  influence,  which  was  destined  to  spread 
over  Europe,  and  over  the  worhl,  and  to  affect  not 
only  religious,  but  political  society.  It  waked  up 
inquiry  on  all  subjects,  religious,  philosophical,  scien- 
tific, and  political,  and  secured,  to  the  extent  of  its 
domain,  freedom  to  conscience,  to  intellectual  effort, 
and  to  states.  It  broke  the  spell  of  authority,  by 
which  the  Church  of  Rome  had  so  long  enchained 
the  Avorld,  and  opened  a  field  for  independent  action  to 
vigorous  and  aspiring  minds.  It  was  an  introduction 
of  a  new  era,  not  only  in  religion,  but  in  civil  free- 
dom, in  the  social  state,  in  learning,  and  in  science. 
The  predominant  characteristic  of  the  movement, 
related  always  to  the  arrogant  claims,  the  despotic 
rule,  the  all-absorbing  powei',  and  the  absurd  .and 
blasphemous  dogmas  of  the  Church  of  Rome ;  and 
no  student  of  history  can  appreciate  the  genius  of 
the  Reformation,  and  its  influence  on  mankind,  who 
does  not  regard  it  in  these  aspects  and  relations. 

The  fact,  that  the  political  interests  of  all  nations 
are  necessarily  involved  in  the  cause  of  the  Protes- 
iiut  Reformation,  presents  one  of  its  most  important 
features.  The  claims  of  the  Pope,  as  avc  have  seen 
in  a  former  chapter,  are  over  the  temporal,  as  well 
as  over  the  spiritual  destinies  of  man.  lie  is  crowned 
not  only  with  the  mitre,  but  with  the  tiara,  the  latter 
denoting  especially  his  political  pretensions.  He 
claims  to  be  "king  of  kings,  and  lord  of  lords,"  on 
earth.  At  his  inauguration,  literally  "  arrayed  in 
purple,  and  scarlet,  and  gold,  and  precious  stones, 
and  pearls,"  he  is  lifted  up  by  the  Cardinals,  and 
placed,  sitting,  on  the  Altar  of  God,  "showing  him- 
10* 


114  THE    GENIUS    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 

self  that  he  is  God  ;"  and  with  a  golden  chalice  at  his 
side,  he  receives,  hy  representation,  the  homage  of 
the  world. 

By  these  and  other  signs  and  pretensions,  so  atoII 
certified,  so  long  and  so  widely  proclaimed,  and  so 
often,  whenever  it  has  been  possible,  put  in  force,  all 
Protestant  nations  know,  or  may  know,  what  their 
position  is.  He  that  is  forewarned,  is  forearmed;  at 
least,  it  must  be  his  own  fault  if  he  is  not.  Until 
the  pages  of  history  can  be  sealed  up,  every  Protes- 
tant, throughout  the  world,  sees  what  he  may  yet 
have  to  do.  There  is  a  strange,  unnatural  truce  on 
this  subject  in  the  United  States,  arising  from  the 
fact,  that  the  two  great  political  parties  of  the  coun- 
try both  have  need  of  the  votes  of  the  subjects  of 
the  Pope  of  Rome.  But  the  time  may  come  when 
these  parties  will  be  as  eager  to  shake  off  such  help, 
as  they  are  now  to  embrace  it.  The  Protestant 
world  may  j^et  have  to  muster  under  the  bannner, 
floating  in  the  breeze,  Dieii  et  men  droit.  There 
can  never  be  peace,  while  the  dome  of  St.  Peter 
canopies  the  head  of  a  Prince,  whose  throne  is  upheld 
by  traffic  in  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   GEN'lUS   OF    TUE   CHURCH    OF   ENGLAND. 

To  suppose  that  every  branch  of  the  Christian 
Church  has  the  same  character,  or  that  such  unifor- 
mity is  necessary  to  the  objects  of  Christianity,  would 
be  a  great  mistake.  On  the  contrary,  it  would  be 
easy  to  show,  as  we  must  yet  incidentally  do  in  the 
progress  of  this  work,  that  some  considerable  direr- 
sity  of  character,  in  the  polities  and  discipline  of 
different  Churches,  is  not  only  the  unavoidable  result 
of  the  history  and  circumstances  that  have  given 
birth  to  them,  but  indispensable  to  their  greatest 
usefulness. 

To  arrive  at  a  knowledge  and  just  appreciation  of 
the  genius  of  the  Church  of  England,  some  considera- 
ble range  of  history  must  be  cursorily  surveyed.  In  a 
future  place  in  this  work,  it  will  be  both  pertinent  and 
instructive,  for  the  accomplishment  of  our  main  de- 
sign, to  present  the  contrast  between  the  position  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  that  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  relative  to  general  society,  and 
more  particularly  in  relation  to  political  society.  It 
will,  therefore,  be  very  essential  to  have  before  us  the 
condition  of  the  English  Church  as  a  State  establish- 
ment, which  is  not  less  necessary  as  an  indication,  in 
part,  of  her  genius ;  and  this  it  will  be  impossible  fully 
to  understand,  without  a  somewhat  extended  view  of 

(115) 


116        GENIUS   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF   ENGLAND. 

the  history  of  the  national  Synod  of  that  Church, 
styled  the  Convocation.  The  suhjcct  may,  per- 
haps, as  well  he  introduced,  by  a  few  citations  from 
Burn's  '■^Ecclesiastical  Law."     lie  says: — 

"  Though  the  word  Convocation  be  in  itself  of  a 
general  signification,  yet  custom  hath  determined 
its  sense"  (in  England)  "  to  an  ecclesiastical  use, 
and  made  it,  if  not  only,  yet  principally,  to  be 
restrained  to  the  assemblies  of  the  clergy.  .  .  . 
These  assemblies  were  as  old  almost  as  the  first  set- 
tlement of  Christianity  among  us,  and,  amidst  all 
our  other  revolutions,  continued  to  be  held  till  the 

time   of   King    Henry   the    Eighth The 

archbishop  called  together,  first  the  bishops,  after- 
wards the  other  prelates  of  their  provinces ;  and  by 
degrees  added  to  these  such  of  their  inferior  clergy, 
as  they  thought  needful.  In  these  assemblies  of  the 
clergy,  only  the  spiritual  afiairs  of  the  Church  were 
wont  for  a  long  time  to  be  transacted.  .  .  .  When 
the  papal  authority  had  prevailed  here,  another  and 
yet  larger  sort  of  councils  "  (in  distinction  from  the 
Archi-episcopal  Convocations),  "  were  introduced 
among  us,  of  the  bishops  and  prelates  of  the  whole 
realm.  These  were  properly  national  Church  coun- 
cils. But  besides  these  Synods,  two  other  assem- 
blies there  were,  of  the  clergy  of  this  realm,  peculiar 
to  our  own  state  and  country,  in  which  the  clergy 
were  convened,  not  for  the  spiritual  affairs  of  the 
Church,  but  for  the  good  and  benefit  of  the  realm, 
and  to  act  as  members  of  the  one  as  well  as  of 
the  other.  .  .  .  Hence  our  bishops  first,  and  then 
some   of  our  other  prelates,   as    abbots  and    friars, 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OP  ENGLAND    117 

were  very  early  brought  into  the  great  coun- 
cils of  the  realm,  or  Parliament ;  and  there  consulted 
and  acted  together  Avith  the  laity.  Thus  were  the 
greater  clergy  first  brought  into  our  state  councils, 
and  made  a  constant  and  established  part  of  them. 

Our  Saxon  ancestors  subjected  the  lands 

of  the  clergy  to  the  three-fold  necessity  of  castles, 
bridges,  and  expeditions.     And  the  granting  of  aids 
in  these  cases,  brought  on  assemblies  of  the  clergy, 
■which  were  afterwards  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
Convocation.  .  .  .  "William  the  conqueror  turned  the 

frankalmoigne  tenures  of  the  bishops,  and  some  of 
the  great  abbots,  into  baronies ;  and  from  thence  for- 
ward they  were  obliged  to  send  persons  to  the  wars, 
and  to  attend  in  parliament,  which  was  complained  of 
as  a.  burthen.  .....  Edward   I.    fixed   upon   an 

establishment "  (of  Church  and  State)  "  which  hath, 

in   some   sort,    continued   ever   since He 

designed  to  have  the  clergy  as  a  third  estate,  and  as 
the  bishop  was  to  sit,  per  baroniam,  in  the  temporal 
parliament,  so  they  were  to  sit  with  the  inferior 
clergy  in  Convocation.  And  the  design  of  the  king 
was,  that,  as  the  two  temporal  estates  charged  the 
temporalities,  and  made  laws  to  bind  all  temporal 
things  within  this  realm ;  so  this  other  body  should 
have  given  taxes  to  charge  the  spiritual  possessions, 
and  have  made  canons  to  bind  the  ecclesiastical  body. 

Edward   I.    projected   to   have   made   the 

clergy  one  third  estate  dependent  on  himself,  and 
therefore  not  only  called  the  bishops,"  (into  parlia- 
ment), "  whom  as  barons  he  had  a  right  to  summon, 
but  the  rest  of  the  clergy,"  (by  representation),  "  that 


118    GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

he  might  have  their  consent  to  the  taxes  and  assess- 
ments   made    on   that   body Though    the 

inferior  clergy,  by  this  new  scheme  of  Edward  I., 
were  let  into  the  power  of  making  canons,  yet  they 
foresaw  they  were  to  be  taxed,  and  therefore  joined 
with  the  bishops,  in  opposing  what  they  thought  an 
innovation.  But  the  king,  and  the  temporal  estate 
were  beforehand  with  them,  and  the  clergy  were  all 
outlawed,  and  their  possessions  siezed  into  the 
king's  hands.  Then  they  consented  to  meet.  And 
to  take  away  all  pretence,  there  was  a  summons,  be- 
sides the  iDroemunientes  clause  to  the  archbishop, 
that  he  should  summon  the  bishops,  deans,  archdea- 
cons, colleges,  and  the  whole  clergy  of  his  province, 
From  hence,  therefore,  the  bishops,  deans,  archdea- 
cons, colleges,  and  clergy,  met  by  virtue  of  the  arch- 
bishop's summons,  which,  being  an  ecclesiastical 
authority,  they  could  not  object  to.  And  so  the 
bishops  and  clergy  came  to  Convocation  by  virtue  of 
the  archbishop's  summons."  Here  we  have  the 
more  modern,  and  in  substance,  the  present  Convo- 
cation of  the  Church  of  England. 

"So"  (by  this  scheme  of  Edward  I.)  "the  clergy 
were  doubly  summoned  :  first,  by  the  bishop,  to 
attend  the  parliament,  and  secondly,  by  the  arch- 
bishop,  to    appear  in    Convocation They 

sometimes  met  on  the  archbishop's  summons,  with- 
out the  king's  writ The  king  gratified  the 

archbishops,  by  suffering  this  new  body  of  Convoca- 
tion to  be  formed  in  the  nature  of  a  parliament. 
They  made  canons  by  which  each  respective  province 
was  bound,  and  gave  aid  and  taxes  to  the  king.    .    . 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.   119 

But  though  they  thus  sat  as  a  parliament,  and  made 
laws  for  the  Church,  yet  they  did  not  make  a  part  of 
the  parliament  properly  so  called.  Sometimes, 
indeed,  the  lords,  and  sometimes  the  commons,  were 
wont  to  send  to  the  Convocation  for  some  of  their 
body,  to  give  them  advice  in  spiritual  matters.  But 
that  was  only  by  way  of  advice.  For  the  parliament 
have  always  insisted  that  their  laws  bound  the  clergy. 

So  in  the  Saxon  times,  if  the  subject  of  any 

laws  was  for  the  outward  peace  and  temporal  govern- 
ment of  the  Church,  such  laws  were  properly  ordained 
by  the  king  and  his  great  council  of  clergy  aud  laity 
intermixed,  as  our  acts  of  parliament  are  still  made. 
But  if  there  were  any  doctrine  to  be  tried,  or  any 
exercise  of  pure  discipline  to  be  reformed,  then  the 
clergy  of  the  great  council  departed  into  a  separate 
Synod,  and  there  acted  as  the  proper  judges.  Only 
when  they  had  thus  provided  for  the  state  of  religion, 
they  brought  their  canons  from  the  Synod  to  the 
great  council,  to  be  ratified  by  the  king,  w'ith  the 
advice  of  his  great  men,  and  so  made  the  constitu- 
tions of  the  Church  to  be  laws  of  the  realm.  Thus 
the  case  stood,  when  the  act  of  submission  was  made 
to  Henry  the  Eighth." 

The  statute  of  submission  to  King  Henry,  so  far 
as  we  can  observe,  has  been  the  governing  law  of 
Convocation  ever  since ;  the  amount  of  which  is,  that 
Convocation  can  do  nothing  without  the  consent  and 
sanction  of  the  sovereign.* 

*  This  act  is  summarily  stated  in  a  petition  of  Convocation  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Sixth, 
as  follows; 


120        GENIUS    OF   THE   ClIUliCH   OF   ENGLAND. 

"And,  therefore,  by  this  act,"  says  Burn,  "the 
clergy  being  restrained  from  making  any  canons  or 
constitutions,  without  the  king's  license,  the  power, 
as  to  this  particular,  which  was  before  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  the  Metropolitan,  is  now  put  into  the  hands 
of  the  king,  who,  having  by  authority  of  his  writ, 
commanded  the  archbishop  to  summon  them  for  state 
purposes,  as  the  tenor  of  his  Avrit  shows,  has  it  now  in 
his  own  breast,  whether  he  will  let  them  act  at  all  as  a 
Churqji  Synod  or  no.  They  are  a  Convocation,  by  the 
writ  of  summons ;  but  a  council,  properly  speaking, 
they  are  not,  nor  can  they  legally  act  as  such,  till  they 
have  obtained  the  king's  license  so  to  do."  In  other 
words,  the  Convocation  has  been  reduced  to  a  cipher 
by  lay  power,  till  it  shall  be  brought  into  action  by 
lay  counsels ;  and  then  only  so  far  as  lay  power  shall 
permit,  and  lay  counsels  order. 

"  And  whereas,  in  a  statute  ordained  and  established  by  autho- 
rity of  parliament  at  Westminster,  in  the  25th  year  of  the  i-eign 
of  the  most  excellent  prince,  Iving  Henry  VIII.,  the  clergy  of  this 
realm,  submitting  themselves,  to  the  King's  highness,  did  acknow- 
ledge and  confess,  according  to  the  truth,  that  the  Convocations 
of  the  same  clergy  have  been  and  ought  to  be  assembled  by  the 
King's  writ  and  did  promise  fui-ther,  in  verba  saccrdoiii,  that  they 
never  from  thenceforth  would  presume  to  attempt,  allege,  claim,  or 
put  in  use,  or  enact,  promulge,  or  execute,  any  new  canons,  consti- 
tutions, ordinances,  provincial  or  other,  or  by  whatsoever  other 
name  they  shall  be  called  in  the  Convocation,  unless  the  king's 
most  royal  assent  and  license  may  to  them  be  had  to  make,  pro- 
mulge, and  execute  the  same.  And  his  majesty  to  give  his  most 
royal  assent  and  authority  in  that  behalf,  upon  pain  of  every  one 
of  the  clergy  doing  the  contrary,  and  being  thereof  convicted,  to 
sufiFcr  imprisonment,  and  make  fine  at  the  King's  will." — Burncfa 
Records  of  the  Reformation. 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.   121 

"In  1717,  the  Convocation  was  prorogued,  and 
has  never  since  sat  for  the  transaction  of  any  busi- 
ness." Dr.  Burn  represents  Mr.  Burke  as  saying, 
that  "  Convocation  is  called  for  form  only.  It  sits 
for  the  purpose  of  making  some  polite  ecclesiastical 
compliments  to  the  king,  and  when  that  grace  is 
said,  retires,  and  is  heard  of  no  more.  It  is,  hoiv- 
evcr,  a  'part  of  the  constitution,  and  may  he  called 
out  into  act  and  energy,  ivlienever  there  is  occasion; 
and,"  Mr.  Burke  adds,  not  very  respectfully,  "when- 
ever those  who  conjure  up  that  spirit,  will  choose  to 
abide  the  consequence." 

Bishop  Burnet  speaks  of  Convocation  as  "a  mat- 
ter perplexed  and  dark,"  referring,  apparently,  to 
its  ancient  composition,  relations,  and  functions. 
This  perplexity  and  darkness,  however,  are  much 
cleared  away  by  the  above  citations  from  Burn's  Ec- 
clesiastical law.  According  to  Bishop  Burnet,  one 
of  the  petitions  of  Convocation,  to  Edward  VI.,  was 
"  that  no  acts  concerning  matters  of  religion  might 
pass,  without  the  sight  and  assent  of  the  clergy;" 
which,  we  think,  may  be  set  down  as  a  general  prin- 
ciple, in  the  history  of  that  body.  It  is  also  stated 
by  Bishop  Burnet,  as  a  prevalent  opinion,  "  that  the 
whole  Parliament  sat  together  in  one  house,  before 
Edjyard  the  Third's  time,  and  that  the  clergy  were  a 
part  of  that  body  without  question.  But  when  the 
Lords  and  Commons  sat  apart,  the  clergy  likewise 
sat  in  two  houses"  (of  Convocation). 

It  will  be  observed,  that  there  was  no  lay  element 
in  the  Convocation.  It  was  purely  a  clerical  body. 
But  the  balance  laical  power  was  vested  in  Parlia- 
11 


122   GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

ment,  all  the  members  of  which  were  in  fact  or 
theory,  we  suppose  in  both,  members  of  the  Church. 
The  functions  of  Parliament  in  government  and 
legislation  for  the  Church,  were  in  fact  those  of  a 
lay  synod,  though  not  so  denominated.  The  princi- 
ple, however,  on  which  they  acted  in  this  capacity, 
in  conjunction  with  Convocation,  is  evident.  It  was 
the  natural  and  appropriate  function  of  Convocation 
to  originate  and  propose  to  Parliament  all  matters 
appertaining  to  the  Church.  These  measures,  of 
course,  before  they  could  have  the  force  of  law,  must 
pass  through  Parliament,  or  obtain  the  sanction  of 
the  sovereign.  Such,  in  substance,  was  the  original 
constitution  of  Church  and  State  in  England.  The 
King,  Parliament,  and  Convocation,  in  all  acts  of 
government  and  legislation  for  the  Church,  were 
parts  of  the  same  synod.  In  all  such  measures,  they 
acted  conjointly,  as  members  of  the  Church,  for  the 
Church.  Convocation,  when  in  full  and  regular  ac- 
tion, generally  held  its  sessions  at  the  same  time  with 
Parliament,  that  both  bodies  might  act  together,  as 
occasion  might  require,  and  both  were  convened  and 
acted,  as  seen  above,  under  royal  authority.* 

•  The  positiou  which  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  for- 
merly considered  themselves  entitled  to  occupy,  in  all  legislation 
appertaining  to  the  Church,  will  appear  in  the  following  extract 
from  a  petition  of  the  lower  house  of  Convocation  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  in  Edward  the  Sixth's  reign : 

"  The  clergy,  in  this  present  Convocation  assembled,  have 
made  humble  suit  unto  the  most  reverend  father  in  God,  my  lord 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  all  the  other  bishops,  that  it  may 
please  them  to  be  a  mean  to  the  king's  majesty,  and  lord  protec- 
tor's grace,  tliat  the  said  clergy,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.    123 

But  times  and  customs  have  changed.  The  Con- 
vocation is  still  a  nominal  part  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  British  empire,  and  is  as  regularly  called 
together  at  the  opening  of  every  new  Parliament,  as 
is  Parliament  itself.  But  there  the  commission  of 
Convocation  ends.  After  meeting,  they  are  pro- 
rogued by  the  same  authority,  through  the  Arch- 
bishop, "without  being  permitted  to  proceed  to  business. 
In  1852,  however,  for  the  first  time  since  1717,  they 
have  been  permitted  to  sit  on  their  OAvn  adjournments, 
and  are  in  session  at  the  time  we  are  now  writino-. 
Since  1717,  Convocation  has  done  nothing  in  the 
way  of  government  and  legislation  for  the  Church, 
but  all  this  duty  has  devolved  upon,  or  been  assumed 
by,  Parliament  and  the  Crown.  In  other  words,  as 
will  be  seen,  the  government  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half,  has  been 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  laity,  excepting  only 
the  administrative  functions  of  the  bishops.  The 
bishops  are  all  appointed  by  the  Crown,  and  the 
right  formerly  enjoyed  by  the  existing  Episcopate, 
to  confirm  such  appointments,  or  the  right  of  voice 

king's  vrrit,  and  the  ancient  laws  and  customs  of  this  noble  realm, 
might  leave  them  room  and  place,  and  be  associated  with  the 
Commons  in  the  nether  house  of  this  present  Parliament,  as 
members  of  the  commonwealth,  and  the  king's  most  humble  sub- 
jects. And  if  this  may  not  be  permitted  and  granted  unto  them, 
that  then  no  statutes  or  laws  concerning  the  Christian  religion, 
or  which  shall  concern  especially  the  persons,  possessions,  rooms, 
livings,  jurisdiction,  goods,  or  chattels  of  the  said  clergy,  may 
pass  nor  be  enacted,  the  said  clergy  not  being  made  party  there- 
unto, and  their  answers  and  reasons  not  heard." — Burnet's  Hi*- 
tory  of  the  Reformation,  Records. 


124        GENIUS    OF   THE   CHURCH    OF   ENGLAND. 

formerly  alloAved  to  the  bishops,  as  to  Avho  shall  be 
their  associates  in  the  Episcopate,  has  fallen  into 
abeyance,  and  is  no  longer  realized.  So  long  as  the 
Episcopate  is  not  vitiated  as  an  Apostolic  institu- 
tion, trials  of  this  and  other  kinds  are  no  new  things, 
and  may  providentially  be  overruled  for  good. 

In  view  of  these  very  grave  facts,  a  portion  of  the 
bishops  and  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  have, 
to  a  great  extent,  and-  within  a  few  years,  been 
roused  to  a  sense  of  their  true  position,  and  are  era- 
ploying  their  best  exertions  and  influence  to  recover 
the  active  powers  of  Convocation.  There  is,  however, 
a  want  of  harmony  in  this  movement  among  the 
clergy,  inasmuch  as  it  is  alleged  to  have  originated 
with  a  minor,  and  in  some  respects,  an  obnoxious 
party.  The  argument  for  the  reTival  of  Convocation, 
is,  however,  on  the  side  of  the  prime  movers,  as  it  is 
easy  to  demonstrate  the  false  position  of  the  Church, 
in  its  present  relation  to  the  State,  having  no  power 
to  act  as  a  Church,  except  in  her  administrative  func- 
tions. The  platform  of  her  ancient  canons  is  worth 
something.  But  who  could  look  on  a  Church,  and 
such  a  Church,  running  on- for  a  century  and  a  half, 
without  a  single  item  of  legislation  originating  in 
herself,  and  not  be  sensible  of  the  amazing  defect  ? 
Not  a  single  age  can  transpire,  without  great  exigen- 
cies for  Church  legislation  on  Church  polity.  In 
contrast  with  the  history  of  the  Church  of  England, 
in  this  particular,  see  what  a  fabric  has  arisen  in  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  within  the  last  half  cen- 
tury !  What  a  fabric  of  Church  polity ;  what  an 
Episcopate,  rising  and  advancing,  while  the  mother 


GEXIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND.   125 

Cliurcli  of  England  stands  still !  While  the  Episco- 
pate of  England  proper  remains  nearly  the  same,  in 
number,  as  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  that  of  the 
American  Church  has  arisen  from  nothing,  and  shot 
ahead  of  her  in  fifty  years  ! 

Besides  the  false  position  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, in  having  been  so  long  deprived  of  an  internal 
and  self-government,  the  parliament  of  England  has 
also  found  itself  in  a  false  position  in  legislating  for 
the  Church,  and  has  so  far  appreciated  it,  as  not  to 
presume  to  enact  ecclesiastical  canons.  Hence  the 
necessity  to  which  the  Church  has  been  so  long 
doomed,  of  carrying  on  her  administrative  functions, 
without  new  canons,  and  without  any  modification  of 
her  old  ones,  in  adaptation  to  "the  various  exigen- 
cies of  times  and  occasions,"  which  have  been  many, 
great,  and  some  even  of  a  momentous  character. 
Her  legislative  power  has  been  crippled,  broken 
down,  by  the  civil  power,  and  to  this  day  lies  in 
abeyance.  She  can  do  nothing  in  a  synodical  capa- 
city, without  a  royal  license,  and  that  has  been  with- 
held since  1717.  It  is  still  true,  as  in  the  time  of 
Bishop  Burnet,  when  he  said :  "  The  government  of 
tlie  Church  is  not  yet  brought  into  the  hands  of 
Churchmen."    {Part  IL,  Book  III.) 

Something,  possibly,  might  be  gained,  in  the  res- 
toration of  the  powers  of  Convocation  ;  but  theChurch 
could  not  be  brought  back  to  the  position  she  occu- 
pied before  they  were  taken  away.  That  is  impossi- 
ble, first,  because  she  could  not  hope  to  be  again 
endowed  with  the  same  co-ordinate  powers,  or  with 
the  initiative  in  matters  appertaining  to  Church 
11* 


126   GENIUS  OP  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

politj.  If  we  rightly  understand  the  position  of  the 
Church  of  England,  in  Convocation,  she  was  once  not 
only  co-ordinate  with  parliament,  in  all  measures 
touching  her  own  interests,  but  she  had  the  privilege 
of  the  initiative,  it  being  supposed  and  admitted, 
that  she  only  was  qualified  for  that  function.  IIoav 
could  parliament  so  well  understand  the  wants  of  the 
Church,  as  the  Church  herself  ?  Next,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  recover  the  ground  lost  by  such  a  long 
non-user  of  the  powers  of  Convocation.  Thirdly, 
the  changes  through  which  both  Church  and  State 
have  passed  during  this  period,  have  given  a  new,  and 
greatly  different  character  to  each,  so  much  so,  that 
the  former  relative  position  of  the  two  parties  would 
now  be  utterly  impracticable.  With  changes  of  time, 
have  been  brought  about  changes  of  views  on  all 
sides,  in  regard  to  this  relation  of  church  and  State. 
And,  lastly,  parliament  is  now  not  only  composed  of 
many  new  elements,  making  such  a  relation  somewhat 
incongruous ;  but  some  new  principles,  of  a  radical 
and  fundamental  character,  have  been  admitted  into 
its  organization,  vrhich  would  render  such  a  co-oper- 
ation of  Convocation  and  parliament,  if  not  impossi- 
ble, at  least  extremely  difficult.  If,  therefore,  the 
functions  of  Convocation  are  to  be  restored  in  any 
form  or  manner,  some  great  effort  of  statesmanship 
would  seem  to  be  required,  to  erect  and  adjust  a  new 
platform,  or  in  many  particulars  a  new  plan. 

We  find  the  Church  of  England,  then,  in  this  per- 
fectly anomalous  position,  allied  to  the  State,  without 
any  powers  inherent  in  herself,  except  the  adminis- 
trative functions  of  the  E]>iscopat(',  and  tliosc  func- 


GENIUS    or   THE    CHURCH    OF    ENGLAND.        127 

tions  esscntinlly  crippled  and  embarrassed  by  the 
operations  of  the  civil  power.  She  is  in  a  state  of 
captivity.  She  cannotextendthe  Episcopate,  accord- 
ing to  the  wants  of  the  Church.  The  bishops  have 
no  voice,  as  formerly,  in  the  confirmation  of  their 
associates  in  office,  but  are  forced  to  receive  those 
appointed  by  the  crown.  The  ancient  canons  are  so 
defective,  as  to  be  now  incapable  of  answering  the 
purposes  of  discipline,  and  there  is  no  recognized 
power  to  make  new  ones,  or  to  modify  the  old.  The 
Church  is  not  permitted  to  do  it,  and  Parliament  will 
not  act  on  so  delicate  a  subject,  because  it  is  conscious 
of  the  impropriety  of  engaging  in  such  a  work ;  and 
between  prohibition  on  the  one  hand,  and  delinquency 
on  the  other,  this  most  important  duty  has  entirely 
failed  to  be  performed  ever  since  1717.* 

Nevertheless,  under  all  these  disadvantages,  and 

*  There  lias  been,  howevei*,  one  important  exception,  in  1840, 
to  this  neglect  of  Parliament.  "It  was  then  provided  by  an 
elaborate  act,  that,  in  the  case  of  any  clerk  (clergyman)  -who 
may  be  charged  vrith  any  offence  against  the  ecclesiastical  laws 
of  the  realm,  or  concerning  ■whom  there  may  exist  scandal  or  evil 
report,  as  having  offended  against  the  said  laws,  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  within  which  the  offence  is  alleged 
or  reported  to  have  been  committed,  on  the  application  of  any 
party  complaining  thereof,  or  if  he  shall  see  fit  on  his  own  mere 
motion,  to  issue  a  commission  to  five  pei'sons  to  make  inquiry  as  to 
the  grounds  of  such  charge  or  report." — Hoffman  on  the  Law  of 
the  Church,  p.  400.  This  act  may,  possibly,  answer  most,  if  not 
all  the  purposes  of  discipline  over  the  clergy,  now  required, 
unless,  pcradvcnture,  it  shall  remain  in  a  state  of  non  user  by  the 
bishops  and  clergy,  because  it  docs  not  come  fi'om  the  right 
quarter,  as  a  canon  of  the  Church.  It  certainly  takes  away  a 
part  of  their  argument  for  tlie  restoration  of  the  active  powers  of 
Convocation. 


128        GENIUS    OF    THE    CHURCH    OF    ENGLAND. 

for  the  very  reason  of  them,  the  Church  of  England 
has  acquitted  herself  in  a  manner,  that  v>ill  enforce 
respect,  if  not  admiration.  We  live  in  Avhat  raaj, 
in  some  sense,  be  called  a  religious  age.  The  leaven 
of  Christianity  pervades  Christendom — a  very  proper 
thing,  indeed.  But  we  mean  something  more  than  a 
truism.  Among  Protestant  nations,  Christianity  has 
become  more  vital  and  more  active  within  the  last 
half  century.  They  who  pretend  to  religion  have 
been  obliged,  by  the  force  of  opinion,  to  do  some- 
thing ;  and  we  may  gratefully  ascribe  much  of  what 
has  been  done  to  genuine  Christian  zeal.  Under  all 
tlic  disadvantages  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  above 
set  forth,  she  has  achieved  great  things,  within  an  age 
now  past.  Not  to  speak  of  the  extension  of  the 
Clnn-ch  over  the  colonial  portions  of  the  British  em- 
pire, Avhich  has  been  on  a  grand  scale,  and  with  signal 
success,  there  has  been  a  revival  of  a  marked  vitality 
and  efficiency  in  her  domestic  operations.  It  is 
stated  in  the  address  of  Convocation  to  the  Queen, 
as  made  in  November,  1852,  that  more  churches  are 
now  built  in  England,  in  one  year,  for  the  increased 
wants  of  the  people,  than  in  the  whole  of  the  last 
century.  This  multiplication  of  churches  has  been 
going  on  for  many  years,  and  is  still  in  progress,  Avith 
increasing  demands  for  Church  room  ;  and  it  is  an 
interesting  feature,  that  much  of  this  is  accomplished 
by  the  munificence  of  private  individuals.  There 
has  been  a  simultaneous  growth,  chiefly  the  cause  of 
these  results,  of  the  zeal  and  efficient  action  of  the 
bishops  and  clergy.  They  have,  at  least  in  a  mea- 
sure, kept  pace  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  as  well  for 


GEXIUS    OF    Tim    CnUnCII    OF    ENGLAND.         120 

internal  reform,  as  for  the  enlargement  of  tlicClmrcli. 
One  of  the  chief  objects  alleged,  in  soliciting  of  the 
crown  a  restoration  of  the  powers  of  Convocation,  is 
the  revival  of  discipline. 

Probably,  however,  the  attempt  now  making,  by  a 
portion  of  the  bishops  and  clergy,  to  re-establish 
Convocation,  will  not  be  successful ;  certainly  not  in 
its  ancient  forms,  with  its  former  powers,  in  its  former 
relation  to  Parliament.  The  time  for  that  has  gone 
b3\  The  great  majority  of  the  clergy,  if  not  of  the 
bishops,  are  opposed  to  it ;  and  the  laity  are  opposed. 
Parliament  would  seem  to  be  jealous  of  this  move- 
ment ;  and  from  the  tone  of  the  address  of  the  recent 
Convocation  to  the  Queen,  one  would  think,  that 
little  favor  was  expected  from  the  Ministry  of  the 
CroAvn. 

There  are,  however,  some  auspicious  indications 
of  good  for  the  Church  of  England,  arising,  perhaps, 
from  an  unexpected  quarter.  The  British  govern- 
ment has  been  educated  in  the  Church ;  it  has  ever 
been  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  Church,  and  is  so  by 
the  constitution  of  the  empire.  For  a  long  period, 
more  especially  of  late  years,  there  has  been  mani- 
fested by  the  government  an  apparent  conscientious- 
ness in  the  discharge  of  its  high  duties,  as  imposed 
by  the  constitution,  towards  ihe  Church.  The 
appointment  of  bishops  and  archbishops  has  appa- 
rently been  judicious,  and  all  other  functions  of 
government  in  Church  aifairs,  seem  now  to  be  dis- 
charged with  a  view  to  make  the  Church  most 
efficient  in  promoting  the  cause  of  religion  and 
Christianity  at  home  and  abroad.     We  ai-e  not  aware, 


1-30    GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

that  any  impeachment  of  the  fidelity  of  the  British 
government,  in  this  respect,  would  fairly  lie.  It 
would  seem,  as  if  the  revival  of  Christian  piety  and 
zeal  in  the  Church  of  England,  of  late  years,  may, 
in  no  small  degree,  be  attributable  to  this  influence 
of  government,  directly  and  indirectly.  If  this  be 
so,  it  is  certainly  a  very  remarkable  fact,  or  group 
of  facts,  which  may  suggest  a  reminiscence  of  the 
prophecy,  when  "  kings  shall  become  nursing  fathers, 
and  queens  nursing  mothers"  of  the  Church. 

The  Church  of  England,  confessedly,  has  had  her 
faults,  as  well  as  her  difiiculties.  AVe  have  seen  how 
completely  she  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  civil 
power,  by  the  long  and  continued  suspension  of  the 
functions  of  Convocation ;  and  there  is  little  proba- 
bility, that  those  functions  will  ever  be  restored.  It 
would  seem  to  be  morally  impossible.  The  action 
of  the  recent  Convocation  betrays  a  consciousness  of 
this  difiiculty,  and  reveals  their  almost  hopeless  posi- 
tion. Where,  then,  lies  the  hope  of  the  Church  of 
England  ?  She  is  lost,  apparently,  unless  the 
government  saves  her  (shall  we  say  from  herself?) 
It  is  certainly  in  the  power  of  the  government  to  do 
this,  and  they  seem  to  be  intent  on  that  great  work. 
The  Church  of  England  has  greatly  prospered  under 
this  regime,  and  is  still  going  on  to  prosper.  Never 
since  the  Reformation  has  she  done  so  Avell.  And  it 
is  a  remarkable  phenomenon,  that  it  is  purely  a  laical 
regime.  Nevertheless,  Episcopacy  is  recognized,  and 
allowed  to  exercise  the  full  scope  of  Episcopal  prero- 
gatives. It  is  principalh%  though  not  exclusively, 
the  secular  interests  of  the  Church,  that  are  assumed 


GENIUS    OF   THE    CHURCH    OF    ENGLAND.         lol 

and  managed  by  the  State.  If  this  part  of  the 
economy  of  the  Church  of  England  is  to  stand  and 
prevail,  under  the  ordering  of  the  civil  power,  it  will 
doubtless  be  found  expedient,  after  due  deliberation, 
to  revive  the  action  of  Convocation,  so  far  at  least, 
as  to  give  to  the  Church  suitable  disciplinary  canons. 
A  Church  can  never  do  justice  to  itself,  or  fulfil  all 
its  duties,  it  is  even  liable  to  break  into  fragments, 
without  a  general  synod ;  and  the  Church  of  England 
noAv  has  none,  except  in  a  Convocation  of  defunct  or 
suspended  powers  ;  and  Convocation,  as  will  be  seen, 
is  rather  a  council,  than  a  synod.  Independent  of 
the  joint  action  of  the  government,  as  a  lay  body,  it 
is  not  a  synod.  That,  too,  as  must  be  acknowledged, 
is  far  from  being  normal. 

If  Convocation  is  to  be  revived  for  Church  pur- 
poses only,  the  important  consideration  of  bringing 
in  the  lay  element  will  probably  have  to  be  discussed. 
There  can  never  be  a  proper  Church  synod  without 
that  element.  The  action  and  purposes  of  a  council, 
in  Protestant  Churches  certainly,  and  we  believe 
every  where,  are  never  of  the  same  character  with 
those  of  a  synod,  and  cannot  have  the  same  effect. 
So  far  as  the  Convocation  of  the  Church  of  England 
has  been  synodical  in  its  character,  it  has  always  been 
on  the  theory,  that  Parliament  and  the  Sovereign  were 
a  part  of  it.  These  latter  constituted  the  lay  element. 
But  the  action  of  Convocation  as  a  council  has  never 
been  allowed,  by  the  laws  of  England,  to  have  force 
outside  of  the  clerical  pale."'' 

*"  Lord  Coke  says,  'a  Convocation  may  make  constitutions, 
by  ■wbich  those  of  the  spiritualty  shall  be  bound ;  for  this,  they 


132        Gi:XIUS    OF    THE    CIIUIICII    OF    EXGLAXD. 

If,  therefore,  tlio  revival  of  Convocation  is  not  to 
bo  associated  with  Parliament,  as  formerly,  it  will 
be  of  little  service,  apparently,  without  the  lay  ele- 
ment ;  and  so  long  as  the  bishops  and  clergy  are 
disposed  to  dispense  with  that  element,  it  is  natural 
that  they  should  find  the  laity  opposed,  as  now. 
What  can  the  Church  of  England  do  without  the 
laity  ?  It  was,  as  Ave  suppose,  on  this  principle,  that 
the  Rev.  W.  A.  Coxe,  a  member  of  the  lower  house 
of  the  Convocation  of  1852,  offered  the  following 
amendment  to  the  address  to  the  Queen :  "  That, 
Avhile  we  respectfully  express  our  conviction,  that  the 
legislative  assemblies  of  Convocation  are  an  important 
part  of  the  constitution  of  our  Church,  Ave  believe 
that  a  resumption  of  their  active  functions,  as  at 
present  constituted,  without  lay  co-02)eration,  Avill  be 
at  once  inconvenient,  and  open  to  just  suspicions." 
It  seems,  however,  by  the  vote  on  this  amendment, 
that  ConA'Ocation  aams  not  prepared  to  entertain  the 
principle  of  admitting  the  lay  element  into  the  com- 
position of  the  body.  In  one  of  the  English  Quar- 
terlies, the  Christian  Remembrancer,  for  October, 
1852,  an  earnest  advocate  for  the  revival  of  Convo- 
cation, Ave  find  the  following  very  decided  expression 

Jill,  cither  by  representation,  or  in  person,  are  present;  but  not 
the  temporalty.'  In  the  primitive  Church,  the  hiity  were  present 
!it  all  synods.  When  the  Roman  empire  became  Christian,  no 
canon  was  made  without  the  Emperor's  consent.  If  the  king  and 
clergy  make  a  canon,  it  binds  the  clergy  in  tc  ecclcsiusiica,  but  it 
doth  not  bind  laymen.  The  canons  of  Convocation  do  not  bind 
the  laity,  without  an  act  of  Tarliament.  It  was  determined  by 
the  unanimous  resolution  of  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  that  such 
panon,?  do  not  1)ind  the  laity." — Durri's  J^cchxiaslkal  Laic. 


GIJNIUS    OF    THE    CHURCH    OF    ENGLAND.        133 

on  this  question  :  "  Let  tiie  Church  keep  what  she 
has  got,  and  hold  it  fast,  before  we  make  such 
questions,  as  the  admission  of  the  laity,  any  very 
prominent  part  of  the  subject."  They  can  doubtless 
remain,  as  they  now  are,  under  the  lay  power  of 
Parliament  and  the  Crown,  and  do  nothing  as  a 
Convocation ;  and  it  ma}^,  perhaps,  be  best.  We 
have  seen,  that  for  the  present,  it  works  well. 

In  the  representation  of  the  lower  house  of  the 
recent  Convocation,  to  the  Archbishop,  there  is  an 
admission  of  the  importance  of  the  influence  of  the 
lay  element,  but  it  looks  for  it  to  Parliament  and  the 
Queen:  "They,"  the  lower  house  of  Convocation, 
"  earnestly  pray,  that  they  may  be  permitted  to 
consider  what  changes  are  needed,  in  order  that  it" 
(the  Convocation)  "  may  be  reconstructed,  as  a  body 
fitted  to  represent  and  legislate  in  practical  matters, 
in  concert  with  the  civil  legislature,  for  the  Church 
of  England,  as  spread  through  the  United  Kingdom, 
and  through  all  our  colonies ;  so  that,  under  God's 
blessing,  the  manifold  gifts  bestowed  on  the  lay  mem- 
bers of  the  Church,  as  ivell  as  on  the  ecclesiastical, 
may  work  together  harmoniously,  for  the  building 
up  of  the  U'hole  body,  and  for  the  strengthening  and 
extending  of  the  Kingdom  of  Cfod." 

Rev.  Dr.  Jelf,  of  the  lower  House,  said :  "  The 
Queen  was  constitutionally  part  of  the  Convocation, 
representing,  in  fact,  the  lay  element."  Dr.  "Wil- 
kins,  Archdeacon  of  Nottingham,  said :  ''  !N^othing 
could  be  done  without  the  license  of  the  Queen,  or 
indeed,  without  the  license  of  the  laity,  as  expressed 
tlirongh  P;irli;miiMit."  From  all  this  we  gatlier,  that 
12 


134   GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

the  importance  of  the  Liy  clement,  to  act  with  and 
upon  the  Convocation,  is  universally  recognized. 
The  only  question  is,  as  to  the  relation  which  that 
element  shall  sustain  to  Convocation,  whether  it 
shall,  by  a  reconstruction  of  the  body,  be  a  compo- 
nent part  of  itself,  or  remain,  as  heretofore,  in  Par- 
liament and  the  sovereign.  There  are  many  reasons 
for  the  conclusion,  that  the  latter  mode  cannot  be 
realized,  except  in  the  perpetual  suspension  of  the 
active  powers  of  Convocation.  Consequently,  the 
only  practicable  mode  would  seem  to  bo  the  admis- 
sion of  the  lay  element  as  a  component  part  of  the 
body. 

How  far  the  jealousy  of  the  House  of  Commons 
towards  Convocation  is  indicated  by  the  following 
interrogatory  and  ansAver,  which  occurred  on  the  loth 
of  November,  1852,  the  fourth  day  after  the  opening 
of  Convocation,  we  cannot  say.  It  shows,  at  least,  that 
the  House  of  Commons  have  an  eye  on  all  the  doings 
of  Convocation.  "  Mr.  J.  A.  Smith  asked  the  Secre- 
tary for  the  Home  Department,  whether  it  was 
intended,  that  Convocation  should  continue  to  sit,  or 
be  prorogued  as  usual?  Mr.  Walpole"  (the  secretary) 
"  stated,  that  the  usual  course  would  be  observed, 
and  this  was  intended  from  the  beginning."  [London 
Times.)  This  would  seem  to  be  small  encourage- 
ment for  the  object  prayed  for  in  the  Address  of 
Convocation  to  the  Queen. 

The  following  remarks  of  the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  in 
the  recent  Convocation,  are  somewhat  remarkable: — 
"  I  rejoice  to  tliink  how  mucli,  how  very  much,  by 
God's  grace,  has  been  gained  to  the  life,  the  serious- 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHUKCH  OF  ENGLAND.    135 

ness,  the  efficiency  of  our  Church.  I  rejoice  to  think, 
how  much  more  like  a  Church  it  is,  in  many  respects, 
than  it  was  thirty  years  ago.  Do  not  let  me  be  sup- 
posed, however,  to  look  without  dismay  to  much  of 
what  has  happened  in  the  course  of  the  last  thirty 
years,  but  especially  in  the  course  of  the  last  ten. 
My  lords,  I  have  seen  a  large  defection  from  the 
Church,  of  men,  not  all  of  whom  have  been  led  lightly 
to  take  the  step  they  have  done.  We  can  see  some 
of  the  causes.  An  eagerness  after  some  of  the 
claims  of  the  hierarchy  of  Rome,  may  have  misled  a 
portion  of  these  men.  Others  may  have  been  misled 
by  a  desire  to  imita^te  the  excessive  ritual  of*  that 
Church.  There  are  some  who  may  have  longed  for 
more  power  themselves,  as  presbyters,  than  our 
Churchgives  them.  But,  my  lords,  I  know  of  more 
than  one — I  know  of  those  Avhom  I  have  honored — 
that  they  have  gone  because  of  what  they  take  to  be 
the  miserable  thraldom  of  the  Church  to  the  State  of 
this  land.  I  know  there  are  many  in  this  Church, 
who,  if  the  time  should  ever  come,  that  the  Church 
should  declare  itself  incompetent  to  its  essential 
duties  and  to  its  vital  action,  will  leave  it.  I,  for 
one,  will  leave  this  Church,  if  that  time  should  ever 
come.  I  will  not  go  to  Rome.  Nothing  could  induce 
me  to  go  to  that  corrupted  Church.  But  never, 
never,  never  will  I  act  as  a  bishop  of  the  Church  of 
England,  whenever  she  is  thoroughly  placed  under 
the  feet  of  the  temporal  power."  [London  Times.) 

The  first  part  of  these  remarks  is  a  very  distinct 
and  grateful  recognition  of  the  great  good  that  has 
been  accomplished,  within  the  hist  tljirty  years,  by 


13G        GENIUS    OF    THE    CnURCII    OF    ENGLAND. 

tho  active  and  efficient  supervision  of  the  temporal 
power  over  the  Church,  as  before  noticed.  This  great 
change  for  the  bettor  coukl  not  be  denied  by  the 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  though,  possibly,  he  might  be 
reluctant  to  acknowledge  the  cause,  as  it  would,  per- 
haps, militate  against  his  purpose.  The  latter  part 
of  his  remarks  will  naturally  suggest  the  result  of  the 
case  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gorham,  before  the  Court  of 
Appeals,  who  was  rescued  by  that  tribunal  from  the 
disciplinary  powder  of  the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  who  had 
undertaken  to  eject  him  from  his  living,  and  drive 
him  out  of  the  diocese,  because  he  could  not  con- 
scienti-ously  subscribe  to  the  bishop's  views  of  the 
doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration.  If  the  object  of 
restoring  the  legislative  powers  of  Convocation,  Averc 
only  or  chiefly  to  render  eifective  Episcopal  acts  of 
this  kind,  it  would,  perhaps,  be  as  well  for  the  Queen 
to  withhold  her  royal  license  yet  longer.  But  Ave 
suppose  the  objects  of  the  petition  of  Convocation  avc 
much  more  comprehensive.'^' 

*  Since  this  chapter  was  written,  we  have  received  intelligence 
of  the  prorogation  of  Convocation  in  February,  to  which  it  stood 
adjourned  from  November,  Avithout  any  material  change  of  its 
position  in  relation  to  the  Government.  The  Loudon  Times,  the 
day  after  the  prorogation,  among  other  strictures,  remarks : — 
"  It  is  impossible  to  deny,  that  Convocation  has  met,  and  has 
discussed  divers  weighty  questions  of  Church  government  in  a 
manner  which  shows  that  its  intention  of  asserting  and  exercising 
a  still  greater  authority  in  future,  must  be  viewed  by  the  statesmen 
who  may  govern  this  country  with  greater  sei'iousness  than  tlic 
subject  has  of  late  attracted  among  the  laity.  .  .  .  The  inde- 
finite powers  of  their  own  body  formed  the  sole  topic  of  discus- 
sion. That  was  precisely  the  whole  history  of  Convocation,  for 
the  last  twenty  years  fprevions  to  1717)  of  its  active  existence.  .  .  . 


GENIUS    OF    THE    CllUllCil    OF    ENGLAND.        137 

On  the  whole,  it  would  seem  to  be  clear,  that  lay 
power  in  the  British  Government  has  obtained  the 
lead  in  its  influence  and  control  over  the  affairs  of 
the  Church,  and  it  seems  to  be  doing  well.  At  least 
five  to  one  of  the  clergy,*  and  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the 
laity,  are  in  favor  of  this  regime.  It  would,  indeed, 
seem  to  be  a  subject  of  regret,  that  the  Church  of 
England  cannot  govern  herself,  nor  recover  the 
power  of  self-government.  That  chance,  possibly, 
might  be  open  to  her,  as  to  all  spiritual  matters,  and 
as  to  internal  discipline  and  order,  if  she  were  pre- 
pared to  accept  from  the  government  a  proper 
synodical  organization,  by  an  admission  of  the  lay 
element.  Till  that  time  there  would  seem  to  be  little 
chance.  Till  that  time,  apparently,  she  must  fain  be 
content  to  be  governed  exclusively  by  lay  power,  as 
she  is  now,  and  part  with  the  Bishop  of  Exeter. 
She  may  rejoice  and  thank  God  for  one  thing,  that 
the  administrative  functions  of  her  Episcopate  are 
recognized,  sustained,  and  working  better  and  better 

We  are  persuaded,  that  the  time  is  not  very  distant  >vhen,  if 
these  claims  are  put  forward  by  the  Church,  they  will  have  to  be 
limited  by  her  Majesty's  undoubted  prerogative,  or  defined  l>y 
the  legislative  authority  of  Parliament,  which  is  alone  supremo 
ill  this  realm." 

®  Out  of  some  ten  thousand  clergy  in  the  province  of  Canter- 
bury, only  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty  voted  for  Proctors  to 
represent  them  in  the  late  Convocation,  a  considerable  fraction 
of  whom  voted  for  candidates  opposed  to  the  revival  of  Convoca- 
tion, and  in  some  cases  elected  their  nominees.  It  is  supposed, 
that  all  in  favor  of  the  revival  of  Convocation,  were  present  at 
the  elections.  If  so,  the  proportion  of  clergy  opposed  to  the 
revival  of  Convocation  functions,  must  be  some  seven  or  eight 
to  one. 

12* 


138    GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

as  time  rolls  on.  It  v;i\\  be  better  yet,  and  a  higher 
ground  of  gratulation,  if  the  end  shall  be,  that  the 
Queen  shall  have  proved  a  "  nursing  mother"  of  the 
Church. 

The  present  position  of  the  Church  of  England 
presents  a  rare  spectacle.  It  is,  indeed  a  perfect 
novelty  in  the  history  of  the  Church  universal.  As, 
ho^vever,  she  has  done  so  well,  in  an  age  now  past, 
there  is  great  hope  of  good  for  the  future.  We  shall 
yet  have  occasion  to  see,  that  the  position  of  the  Ame- 
rican Episcopal  Church,  is  not  only  exempt  from  all 
the  embarrassments  of  the  Church  of  England,  by 
her  connexion  with  the  State,  but  that  the  prospects 
of  the  American  Church  are  comparatively,  and  most 
encouragingly  auspicious.  While  we  sympathise  with 
all  the  trials  of  our  mother  Church,  and  pray  for  her 
rescue,  for  her  prosperity,  and  for  her  onward  march 
of  usefulness  in  promoting  the  cause  of  our  common 
Lord  and  Redeemer,  we  may  thank  God  who  so 
ordered,  that  our  very  beginning  should  have  been 
a  rescue  from  all  these  embarrassments,  and  that  it 
should  constitute  the  epoch  of  a  mission,  the  vast 
field,  and  great  responsibilities  of  which  we  shall 
hereafter  have  occasion  to  notice. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  genius  of  the 
(  hurchof  England  has  been  greatly  modified,  in  the 
progress  of  time,  since  its  severance  from  the  Church 
of  Rome,  under  Henry  VIII.  That  separation,  as 
may  reasonably  be  supposed,  from  the  fact  that  it 
originated  in  the  domestic  difficulties  of  the  king,  did 
not  materially  affect  the  character  of  the  Church  as 
a  spiritual  body,  at  the  time.     It  was  a  mere  transfer 


aENIUS   OF   THE   CHURCH    OF    ENGLAND.        139 

of  allegiance  from  the  Pope  of  Rome  to  the  king  of 
England.  The  spirit  of  Protestantism,  however,  as 
we  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter,  had  previously 
and  extensively  taken  root  in  England,  and  in  the 
English  Church.  Although  the  motive  of  the  king, 
in  casting  oflf  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  for  himself,  for 
the  Church,  and  for  his  realm,  was  doubtless  a  per- 
sonal one ;  nevertheless,  in  doing  that,  ho  took  up 
his  position  as  a  Protestant  prince,  in  relation  to  the 
Pope,  to  Europe,  and  the  world ;  in  doing  that,  he 
became,  unwittingly,  it  may  be,  the  patron  of  Pro- 
testantism, at  home  and  abroad;  and  in  doing  that, 
he  gave  full  scope  to  the  predisposition  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  of  all  the  people  of  England, 
towards  Protestantism.  It  was  in  fact,  a  substantial 
revolution,  in  Church  and  State,  against  popery,  and 
in  favor  of  the  Protestant  cause,  as  the  result  showed. 
The  subsequent  brief  reign  of  Mary,  and  the  resto- 
ration of  papal  authority,  under  her,  only  proved, 
that  Protestantism  had  touched  the  heart  of  Eng- 
land, and  was  in  the  heart  of  the  English  Church. 
Indeed,  Mary's  reign  of  five  years  was  the  grand 
auto  de  fe  of  Protestant  England. 

The  Church  of  England  ever  has  been,  and  still  is, 
a  part  of  the  fabric  of  the  State,  and  consequently 
her  genius  must  be,  necessarily  and  very  materially, 
affected  by  that  relation.  Her  prelates  are  appointed 
by  the  Sovereign,  are  ex-officio  peers  of  the  realm, 
and  members  of  the  legislative  faculty  of  the  empire. 
They  sit  side  by  side  with  the  secular  lords,  in  the 
upper  house  of  Parliament ;  or  rather  occupy  a  supe- 
rior bench  by  themselves,   in   compliment  to  their 


140        GENIUS    OP   THE   CHURCH   OF    ENGLAND. 

spiritual  character,  at  the  same  time  that  they 
^preside  over  the  Church  in  their  respective  dioceses. 
They  appear  in  the  House  of  Lords  in  their 
Episcopal  robes,  not  only  to  denote  their  position 
as  ecclesiastics,  but  apparently  to  show,  that  in  that 
place  they  have  not  laid  aside  their  prelatical  func- 
tions, but  are  supposed  to  be  there  to  watch  over  the 
interests  of  the  Church.  Their  position  in  Parlia- 
ment entitles  them  to  take  part  in  the  entire  legisla- 
tion for  the  British  dominions,  and  a  respectful 
deference  is  always  paid  to  their  discharge  of  these 
duties.  The  overseers  of  the  Church,  therefore,  are 
overseers  of  the  State,  to  the  extent  of  their  personal 
and  official  influence,  as  members  of  the  national 
legislature — not,  however,  in  derogation  of  their  com- 
mission from  heaven,  but  to  see  that  the  interests  of 
the  spiritual  commonwealth  committed  to  their  charge, 
receive  no  damage,  and  to  promote  those  interests. 
The  sovereign  of  England  is  the  head  of  the  Church 
— an  apparent  incongruity — he  being  a  temporal 
prince ;  but  this  fact  is  based  on  the  principle,  that 
the  Church  being  a  part  of  the  state,  the  sovereign 
should  be  at  the  head  ;  and  the  theory  is,  that  the 
sovereign  is  no  farther  head  of  the  church,  than  as 
the  Church  is  a  part  of  the  empire;  all  administra- 
tive functions  of  the  Church  proper  being  left  to  the 
church.  This  line  of  demarcation  between  the  duties 
of  the  sovereign  and  the  appropriate  functions  of  the 
prelates,  is  seldom  violated  by  aggression  from  one 
side  or  the  other ;  and  it  is  claimed  by  the  bishops, 
both  in  theory  and  practice,  that,  as  successors  of  the 
Apostles, ajid  in   the  use   of  their  spiritual  proroga- 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND    141 

tives,  they  have  no  head  but  Christ.  Bishop  Gibson 
says :  "  When  the  hiws  say,  that  all  ecclesiastical 
authority  is  in  the  crown,  and  derived  from  thence, 
or  use  any  expressions  of  like  import,  it  is  to  be 
remembered,  that  the  principal  intent  of  all  such 
laws  and  expressions,  was  to  exclude  the  temporal 
power  of  the  Pope."  This,  as  will  be  seen,  is  a 
natural  interpretation  of  these  pretensions,  and  it  is 
one  of  high  authority.  Bishop  Short,  in  his  history 
of  the  Church  of  England,  (§  201,)  says  :  "  The 
ministers  of  God's  word  must  derive  from  him  such 
authority  as  shall  enable  them  to  carry  on  a  Christian 

Church,  independent  of  the  civil  magistrate 

The  right  of  ordination,  for  instance,  must  belong  to 
the  Church  independent  of  the  civil  power  ;  but  a 
Christian  government  may  still  assign  limits  to  the 
exercise  of  it.  .  .  .  The  law  cannot  say,  that  the 
person  so  ordained  shall  not  be  a  priest ;  but  that  he 
shall  not  hold  Church  preferment;  and  at  the  same 
time  it  may  punish  the  bishop  for  breaking  the  law 
of  the  land."  These  remarks  of  course  apply  to  a 
Church  established  or  patronised  by  the  State. 

The  duty  of  bishops,  as  legislators  in  the  state,  is, 
as  we  think,  manifestly  outside  of  their  Episcopal 
functions,  and  is  so  regarded,  to  a  great  extent,  in 
England.  The  only  apparent  vindication  is,  that 
the  Church,  in  its  frame  work,  has  been  incorporated, 
from  time  immemorial,  in  the  political  commonM'ealth, 
and  that  so  long  as  it  is  so,  the  bishops  should  be 
where  they  can  take  care  of  it. 

The  Protestantism  of  the  parliament  and  govern- 
ment of  Great  Britain,  is  chiefly  a  political  element, 


142   GENIUS  OF  THE  CUURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

and  relates  to  the  Pope's  cla'.ms,  as  sovereign  pontiff 
over  all  kingdoms  and  nations ;  more  especially  as 
the  Pope  once  had  dominion  in  England,  and  is  only 
deprived  of  it  by  force.  The  Pope  is  still  prince  in 
the  affections  of  a  majority  of  the  people  of  Ireland, 
has  a  footing  in  England,  and  appears  to  be  gaining 
ground  there.  All  know  his  recent  attempts  to 
extend  his  hierarchy  in  England,  in  forms  -which  had 
been  suffered  to  go  into  desuetude,  and  to  spread 
over  the  kingdom  fresh  and  absorbing  claims,  -which 
have  produced  great  excitement.  Protestantism, 
therefore,  in  England,  is  more  vigorous  and  active 
now,  as  a  political  element,  than  for  a  long  time  pre- 
vious. As  a  religious  feeling,  too,  it  has  revived,  in 
a  like  proportion,  though  it  was  not  wanting  in 
vitality  before.  The  Church  and  people  of  England 
are  profoundly  sensitive  on  this  great  subject,  and  in 
no  other  nation  are  there  more  vital  and  potent 
reasons  for  it,  religious  and  political. 

If,  therefore,  we  would  understand  the  genius  of 
the  Church  of  England,  we  must  consider  her  history 
as  a  State  religion  for  so  long  a  period,  and  her 
antagonistic  position  in  relation  to  the  claims  of  the 
Church  of  Pome.  Her  Protestantism  has  purified 
and  elevated  her  character  immensely,  and  for  cen- 
turies she  has  been  gradually  growing  more  fit  for 
the  field  she  occupies,  and  more  useful  in  it.  There 
is  not,  perhaps,  a  Church  in  the  world,  which,  during 
the  same  or  an  equal  period,  has  improved  so  much 
in  her  general  economy,  in  spiritual  vigor,  and  in 
efficiency.  She  came  out  from  the  Church  of  Rome, 
under  Henry  VIII.,  as  a  fru^ment  of  that  body,  with 


GENIUS  OF  THE  CnURCII  OF  ENGLAND.    143 

a  redeeming  leaven  of  Protestantism  in  lier  bosom. 
During  the  subsequent  brief  interval  of  papal  power 
in  England,  under  Mary,  the  martyr  blood  of  her 
prelates  and  laymen  was  freely  poured  out  for  the 
Protestant  faith.  The  universities  of  England  have 
for  ages  sent  forth  the  most  accomplished  men  of  all 
history,  to  adorn,  instruct,  and  edify  the  Church,  and 
to  leave  a  vast  body  of  literature  behind  them,  in  the 
various  vralks  of  Christian  learning,  which  can  never 
be  excelled,  and  Avhich  will  constitute  standards  of 
good  taste  and  Christian  piety,  while  taste  and  piety 
are  held  precious  in  the  earth.  Wherever  the  British 
sway  has  extended  its  empire,  the  Church  of  England 
has  carried  the  Gospel.  It  is  now  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  since  "  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  parts,"  was  organised,  and  it 
has  planted  the  Church  in  almost  all  parts  of  the 
world,  of  which  the  American  branch  is  a  notable 
scion.  The  zeal  of  the  Church  of  England  for  pro- 
moting the  interests  of  a  true  Christianity,  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  her  means  and  moral  power  for  this 
object,  are  constantly  being  augmented.  In  the  Pro- 
testant ranks  of  Christendom,  she  has  ever  maintained 
a  leading  position,  kept  firm  in  the  faith  by  the  Bible 
and  her  Prayer  Book,  marching  straight  onward 
without  wavering  or  defection,  till  she  exhibits  the 
front,  bearing,  and  discipline  of  a  Christian  host, 
of  no  uncertain  promise  for  enacting  a  prominent 
part  in  evangelizing  the  world. 

It  will  be  found  in  all  countries,  where  Christian- 
ity has  been  introduced,  ^that  the  polities  of  the 
Churches   planted  have,  .for   the   most   part,    been 


144        GENIUS   OF   THE   CIIL'RCH    OF   ENGLAND. 

organizctl  and  shaped,  -in  adaptation  to  the  institu- 
tions and  genius  of  the  people,  "svho  are  to  he  acted 
upon  bj  them,  and  that  they  naturally  acquire  that 
form.  Even  the  Church  of  Rome,  with  all  her  tena- 
city for  uniform  modes,  pays  great  respect  to  this 
principle,  in  the  missions  of  the  Jesuits.  It  cannot, 
indeed,  be  disregarded,  in  the  use  of  the  best  discre- 
tion. So  the  polity  of  the  Church  of  England  has 
grown  out  of  the  institutions  of  the  country,  and  is 
necessarily  adapted  to  the  genius  of  the  people.  As 
the  latter  has  changed,  the  former,  at  least,  in  its 
practical  operation,  has  been  accommodated  to  it. 
Such  modifications  are  always  slow,  but  as  unavoida- 
ble as  they  are  expedient.  The  Church  of  Eng- 
land is  not  the  same  thing  now  that  she  was  three 
centuries,  two  centuries,  or  one  century,  or  even 
fifty  years  ago ;  and  what  is  pleasant  to  observe, 
she  has  been  constantly  improving.  She  has  wisely 
adapted  herself  to  the  times,  in  the  practical  opera- 
tion of  her  machinery.  Whether  her  present  polity, 
as  a  State  establishment,  with  her  present  mode  of 
working  upon  it,  is  the  best  possible  for  her  present 
position,  may,  perhaps,  safely  be  left  with  the  judg- 
ment and  conscience  of  those  who  have  charge  of  it, 
and  who  are  responsible  for  the  use  of  it. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   GENIUS   OF   THE   AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CntTRCH,     AS   SHOWN' 
IX    THE    HISTORY   OF    HER   ORGANIZATIOX. 

We  now  come  to  tlie  main  purpose  of  tliis  work. 
What  we  have  said  in  the  preceding  chapters,  was 
naturally  introductory  or  preparatory  to  our  main 
design.  It  seemed  jBt  and  appropriate,  before  enter- 
ing on  the  principal  theme,  to  say  something  of  the 
genius  of  Christianity,  of  that  of  the  Primitive 
Church,  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  of  the  Reformation, 
and  of  the  Church  of  England.  Indeed, "if  the  limits 
of  the  work  had  permitted,  we  might,  with  propriety 
and  profit,  have  included  the  consideration  of  the 
genius  of  many  other  distinct  portions  of  Christen- 
dom, in  different  ages ;  but  that  could  not  well  have 
been  done,  and  leave  such  space  as  we  have  need  to 
occupy  in  the  consideration  of  the  genius  and  mis- 
sion of  the  American  Episcopal  Church. 

The  American  Episcopal  Church  is  the  daughter 
of  the  Church  of  England.  She  was  planted,  and 
during  our  colonial  history,  was  nurtured  by  the 
Church  of  England,  chiefly  through  the  instrumijn- 
tality  of  "  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  parts." 

The  neglect  of  the  mother  Church,  however,  to 
establish  an  American  Episcopate,  during  the  long 
period  of  nearly  two  centuries,  is  acknowledged  on 

13  .         (145) 


146  ORGANIZATION   OF  THE 

all  hands  to  have  been  a  great  fault,  and  to  tht? 
American  Church  a  great  injustice  and  misfortune. 
It  presented  the  anomaly  of  a  Church,  or  of  a  largo 
field  of  the  Church,  without  a  bishop.  It  is  true  tlic 
Bishop  of  London  was  allowed  to  claim  and  exercise 
this  care,  though  the  provisions  of  law  were  some- 
Avhat  defective.  Nevertheless,  a  bishop's  adminis- 
tration in  his  proper  Episcopal  character,  cannot  be 
defective  for  lack  of  a  civil  sanction,  nor  can  its 
spiritual  validity  and  force  be  augmented  by  such 
authority,  except  incidentally  and  morally  for  civil 
purposes,  as  is  the  intended  effect  of  the  connexion 
of  the  Church  of  England  Avith  the  State.  Conse- 
quently, as  the  clergy  of  the  American  Church  or 
branch,  all  acted  under  Episcopal  orders  and  autho- 
rity, there  can  be  no  ground  of  uneasiness  as  to 
their  ecclesiastical  position.  They  were  properly 
missionaries  of  the  Church.  Tlie  Amei'ican  Revolu- 
tion came,  and  the  American  Church  was  in  a  still 
more  distressed  and  orphan-like  condition  for  want  of 
an  Episcopate. 

After  the  peace  of  1783,  however,  measures  were 
revived  for  obtaining  American  Bishops.  There 
were  political  objections  on  both  sides,  in  obtaining 
the  Episcopate  from  the  English  Church,  on  account 
of  the  recent  war  of  independence.  Americans  were 
jealous,  and  the  English  were  afraid  of  offending. 
There  was  also  an  insuperable  bar  in  the  laws  of 
England,  which  required  of  the  English  bishops  the 
exaction  of  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Crown,  from 
all  bishops  consecrated  by  them.  This  law,  however, 
was  afterwards  dispensed  with,  by  a  special  act  of 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL    CUURCH.  147 

Parliament,  for  the  purpose  of  consecrating  Ameri- 
can Bishops — a  favor  that  ought  ever  to  be  higlily 
appreciated — as  the  American  Episcopate  was  then 
obtained  from  Episcopal  authority  alone  as  an  in- 
stitution of  Jesus  Christ,  untrammelled  bj  the  State, 
In  1784,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Seabury,  of  Con- 
necticut, before  the  bar  above  specified  to  a  conse- 
cration in  the  English  Church  was  removed,  received 
Episcopal  orders  at  the  hands  of  the  bishops  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  Scotland,  who  had  no  connexion^ 
■with  the  State.  Although  Episcopacy  had  been 
tendered  to  xVmerica  by  the  Danish  Church,  through 
the  American  minister  at  London,  Mr.  John  Adams, 
filial  preferences  naturally  inclined  the  American 
Church  to  obtain  it  from  the  "west  side  of  the  chan- 
nel ;  and  in  1787,  the  Rev.  William  White,  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Provost,  of  New 
York,  were  consecrated  bishops  of  the  American 
Church  by  the  two  archbishops  of  England,  assisted 
by  the  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  and  by  the  bishop 
of  Peterborough.  In  1790,  the  Rev.  J.  Madison, 
D.  D.,  was  also  consecrated  in  England,  as  bishop 
for  Virginia,  who,  in  1792,  united  with  the  other 
American  bishops  in  the  consecration  of  the  Rev.  T. 
J.  Claggett,  D.  D.,  as  bishop  for  Maryland,  who  was 
the  first  bishop  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church 
consecrated  in  America.  Thus  descended  the  Ameri- 
can Episcopate,  with  no  imputable  blemish  or  defect. 
There  are  now  (1853)  thirty-four  bishops  of  the 
American  Church.  The  entire  number  consecrated 
in  succession  for  the  service  of  the  Church,  is  fifty- 
six. 


148  ORGANIZATION   OF  THE 

Let  US  now  consider  the  organization  of  tlie 
American  Episcopal  Church,  as  an  independent 
branch  of  the  Church  universal,  and  mark  its 
GENIUS  as  developed  in  that  important  event. 
Some  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  in 
the  Colonies,  during  the  American  Revolution,  did 
not  espouse  the  American  cause  against  the  British 
crown,  while  others  were  its  earnest  advocates,  two 
of  whom  (Virginians,)  went  into  the  Revolutionary 
army,  and  rose  to  distinction  in  the  service.  The 
Rev.  William  White,  afterwards  bishop  for  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  chosen  chaplain  of  Congress,  while  in 
session  at  Philadelphia.  After  Independence  was 
acknowledged,  by  the  peace  of  1783,  the  American 
Episcopal  clergy  evinced  by  their  acts,  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  American  branch  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  that  true  American  spirit  by  which  they 
were  actuated.  They  resolved,  at  various  voluntary 
conventions  in  succession,  to  organize  an  independent 
American  Church,  with  elements  in  its  Constitution 
conformable  to  the  new  position  which  it  occupied 
in  the  Providence  of  God.  The  bishop  of  Oxford, 
England,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church  in  America,"  says  of  this  exigency  : — 
"  As  the  political  connexion  of  the  state  with  Eng- 
land was  dissolved,  some  measures  for  which  no 
precedent  existed  were  forced  upon  them ;  nor  would 
it  have  been  easy  to  devise  a  wiser  course  than  that 
which  they  adopted,  in  their  want  of  bishops.  " 
Through  the  instance  of  Rev.  Mr.  White,  of  Philadel- 
phia, above  named,  the  first  of  these  conventions  was 
held  at  Philadelphia  the  24th  of  May,  1784,  composed 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  149 

of  the  clergy  and  delegates  from  the  vestries  of  tlie 
Episcopal  congregations  of  Pennsylvania,  on  -which 
occasion  the  following  fundamental  principles  were 
adopted  as  a  basis  of  future  action  : — 

1.  That  the  Episcopal  Church  is,  and  ought  to 
he,  independent  of  all  foreign  authority,  ecclesias- 
tical or  civil. 

2.  That  it  hath,  and  ought  to  have,  in  common 
with  other  religious  societies,  full  and  exclusive 
powers  to  regulate  the  concerns  of  its  own  commu- 
nion. 

3.  That  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  be  maintained 
as  now  professed  by  the  Church  of  England,  and 
uniformity  of  worship  continued,  as  near  as  may  be, 
to  the  liturgy  of  the  same  Church. 

4.  That ,  the  succession  of  the  ministry  be  agree- 
able to  the  usage  which  requireth  the  three  orders 
of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons ;  that  the  rights  and 
powers  of  the  same  respectively  be  ascertained  ;  and 
that  they  be  exercised  according  to  reasonable  laws 
to  be  duly  made. 

5.  That  to  make  canons  or  laws,  there  be  no  other 
authority  than  that  of  a  representative  body  of  the 
clergy  and  laity  conjointly. 

6.  That  no  powers  be  delegated  to  a  general 
ecclesiastical  government,  except  such  as  cannot 
conveniently  be  exercised  by  the  clergy  and  laity  in 
their  respective  congregations. 

The  Church  of  Maryland  adopted  similar  resolu- 
tions in  1783  and  in  1784.  Those  of  1783  were  as 
follows : — 

1.  We  consider  it  as  the  undoubted  right  of  the 
13* 


150  ORGANIZATION    OF   THE 

said  Protestant  Episcopal  Chm-cli  (of  Maryland), 
in  common  with  other  Christian  Churches  under  the 
American  Revolution,  to  complete  and  preserve 
herself  as  an  entire  Church,  agreeably  to  her 
ancient  usages  and  professions ;  and  to  have  a  full 
enjoyment  and  free  exercise  of  those  purely  spiritual 
powers,  which  are  essential  to  the  being  of  every 
Church  or  congregation  of  the  faithful ;  and  which, 
being  derived  from  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  are  to 
be  maintained  independent  of  every  foreign  or  other 
jurisdiction,  so  far  as  may  be  consistent  with  the 
civil  rights  of  society. 

2.  That  ever  since  the  Reformation,  it  hath  been 
the  received  doctrine  of  the  Church,  of  which  we  are 
members,  that  there  be  three  orders  of  ministers  in 
Christ's  Church,  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons  ;  and 
that  an  Episcopal  ordination  and  commission  are 
necessary  to  the  valid  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ments, and  the  due  exercise  of  the  ministerial  func- 
tions. 

3.  That  without  calling  in  question  the  rights, 
modes,  and  forms  of  other  Christian  Churches  or 
societies,  or  wishing  the  least  contest  with  them  on 
that  subject,  we  consider  and  declare  it  to  be  an 
essential  right  of  the  said  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  to  have  and  enjoy  the  continuance  of  the 
said  three  orders  of  ministers  forever,  so  far  as 
concerns  matters  purely  spiritual. 

4.  That,  as  it  is  the  right,  so  it  will  be  the  duty 
of  the  said  Church,  when  duly  organized,  constituted 
and  represented  in  a  Synod  or  Convention  of  the 
different  orders  of  her  ministers  and  people,  to  revise 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  151' 

licr  liturgy,  forms  of  prayer,  and  public  worship,  in 
order  to  adapt  the  same  to  the  late  Revolution,  and 
other  local  circumstances  of  America ;  which,  it  is 
humbly  conceived,  will  and  may  be  done  without 
any  other  or  further  departure  from  the  venerable 
order  and  beautiful  forms  of  worship  of  the  Church 
from  which  we  sprang,  than  may  be  found  expedient 
in  the  change  of  our  situation,  from  a  daughter  to  a 
sister  Church. 

In  the  Maryland  Convention  of  1784,  after  ap- 
proving the  doings  of  1783,  as  above,  the  following 
resolutions  were  adopted  : — 

1.  That  none  of  the  orders  of  the  clergy,  whether 
bishops,  priests,  or  deacons,  who  may  be  under  the 
necessity  of  obtaining  ordination  in  any  foreign, 
state,  shall,  at  the  time  of  their  ordination,  or  at 
any  time  afterwards,  take  or  subscribe  any  obligation 
of  obedience,  civil  or  canonical,  to  any  foreign 
power  or  authority  whatsoever ;  nor  be  admissible 
into  the  ministry  of  this  Church,  if  such  obligations 
have  been  taken  for  a  settlement  in  any  foreign 
country,  without  renouncing  the  same,  by  taking 
the  oaths  required  by  law,  as  a  test  of  allegiance 
to  this  State. 

2.  According  to  what  we  conceive  to  be  of  true 
Apostolic  institution,  the  duty  and  office  of  a  bishop 
differ  in  nothing  from  that  of  other  priests,  except 
in  the  power  of  ordination  and  confirmation,*  and  in 

*  It  will  be  seen  by  the  following  words  of  this  resolution, 
"According  to  what  we  conceive,"  &c.,  that  this  is  a  mere  ex- 
pressed opinion  of  that  body,  at  that  time.  It  had  no  subsequent 
effect,  after  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Clmrch  of  the  United  States 


152  ORGANIZATION   OF  THE 

tliG  right  of  presiding  in  ecclesiastical  meetings  or 
synods ;  and  shall  accordingly  be  so  exercised  in 
this  Church,  the  duty  and  office  of  priests  remain- 
ing as  heretofore.  And  if  any  further  distinctions 
and  regulations,  in  the  different  orders  of  the 
ministry,  shall  be  found  necessary  for  the  good 
government  of  the  Church,  the  same  shall  be  made 
and  established  by  the  joint  voice  and  authority 
of  a  representative  body  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  at 
future  ecclesiastical  Synods  or   Conventions. 

3.  That  the  clergy  shall  be  deemed  adequate  judges 
of  the  ministe»ial  commission  and  authority,  which 
is  necessary  to  the  due  administration  of  the  ordi- 
nances of  religion,  in  their  own  Church ;  and  of  the 
literary,  moral,  and  religious  qualifications  and  abili- 
ties of  persons  to  be  nominated  and  appointed  to  the 
different  orders  of  the  ministry ;  but  the  approving 
and  receiving  such  persons  to  any  particular  cure, 
duty,  or  parish,  when  so  nominated,  appointed,  set 
apart,  consecrated,  and  ordained,  are  in  the  people 
who  are  to  support  them,  and  to  receive  the  benefit 
of  their  ministry. 


■vras  organized,  and  after  the  diocese  of  Maryland  came  in.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  whole  of  this  resolution.  As  this  same 
Convention  readoptcd  their  second  resolution  of  the  previous  year, 
above  given,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  they  intended  any  thing 
by  this,  inconsistent  with  that.  So  also  of  the  third  resolution,  it 
•will  be  seen,  that  the  Chm-ch  of  Maryland,  being -without  a  bishop, 
and  not  knowing  when  they  would  have  one,  felt  the  necessity  of 
presci-ibing  some  provisional  oversight;  and  in  the  latter  part  of 
it  is  merely  asserted,  what  is  still  the  universal  practice  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  to  wit,  that  every  congregation  shall 
choose  their  own  rector. 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CnURCII.  153 

4.  That  ecclesiastical  Conventions  or  Synods  of 
tliis  Church  shall  consist  of  the  clergy,  and  one  lay 
delegate  or  representative  from  each  vestry  or  parish, 
or  a  majority  of  the  same. 

Resolutions  to  a  similar  effect  were  passed  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  September,  1784,  by  a  convention 
composed  in  like  manner.  They  vrere  a  copy  of 
those  of  Pennsylvania,  with  additions  to  the  first  and 
fifth  articles,  the  latter  of  which  reads  as  follows : — 
"  In  which  body  the  laity  ought  not  to  exceed,  or 
their  votes  be  more  in  number  than  those  of  the 
clergy."  The  nicety  of  this  rule  proves  the  general 
purpose  of  the  Church  to  have  the  clerical  fully 
balanced  by  the  lay  vote. 

These  minor  conventions,  in  separate  States,  led 
to  a  general  call  on  all  the  States,  for  a  representa- 
tion of  the  clergy  and  laity,  to  meet  in  New  York, 
in  October,  1784,  where  delegates  from  eight  differ- 
ent States  were  convened,  and  passed  the  following 
resolutions : — 

1.  That  there  should  be  a  general  Convention  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  Ame- 
rica. 

2.  That  the  Episcopal  Church  in  each  State  should 
send  deputies  to  the  Convention,  consisting  of  clergy 
and  laity. 

3.  That  associated  congregations,  in  two  or  more 
States,  may  send  deputies  jointly. 

4.  That  the  said  Church  shall  maintain  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Gospel,  as  now  held  by  the  Church  of 
England,  and  adhere  to  the  liturgy  of  said  Church, 


154  ORGANIZATION   OF  THE 

as  far  as  shall  be  consistent  with  the  American  Revo- 
lution^  and  the  Constitutions  of  the  several  States. 

5.  That  in  every  State  vrhere  there  shall  he  a 
bishop  duly  consecrated  and  settled,  he  shall  be  con- 
sidered as  a  member  of  the  Convention  ex  officio. 

6.  That  the  clergy  and  laity  assembled  in  conven- 
tion shall  deliberate  in  one  body,  but  shall  vote 
separately ;  and  the  concurrence  of  both  shall  be 
necessary  to  give  validity  to  every  measure. 

7.  That  the  first  meeting  of  the  Convention  shall 
be  at  Philadelphia,  the  Tuesday  before  the  feast  of 
St.  Michael  next ;  to  which  it  is  hoped  and  earnestly 
desired,  that  the  Episcopal  Churches  in  the  several 
States,  will  send  their  clerical  and  lay  deputies,  duly 
instructed  and  authorized  to  proceed  on  the  necessary 
business  herein  proposed  for  their  deliberation. 

All  these  acts  were  of  course  provisional,  and  as 
the  Bishop  of  Oxford  says,  "without  precedent;" 
but  as  the  same  authority  also  says,  "it  would  not 
have  been  easy  to  devise  a  wiser  course."  It  tended 
to  unite  the  American  Church  into  one  body,  and 
resulted  in  that  unity. 

"  The  truth  is,  that  a  common  law  had  sprung  up 
in  the  colonies,  the  ofispring  of  their  necessities  and 
position,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  common  law  of 
England  had  arisen  in  the  Saxon  ages.  The  latter, 
with  wonderful  flexibility,  had  adapted  itself  to  the 
mutations  and  the  progress  of  successive  centuries. 
That  superadded  American  common  law  was  devel- 
oped in  usages  and  statutes ;  and  its  influence  was 
felt  in  the  system  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  in  the 
civil  relations  of  the  people.     And  thus,  as  we  better 


AMERICAN   EPISCOrAL   CHURCH.  15o 

atiderstand  her  character  and  position,  we  shall  bet- 
ter appreciate  the  facility  of  her  transition  from  the 
Church  of  England  in  the  colonies,  to  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States.  No  violent 
disruption  of  the  sacred  bond  took  place.  The 
daughter  glided  from  the  mother's  side,  because,  in 
the  allotment  of  Providence,  she  had  been  led  to 
maturity  and  independence." — Hoffman  on  the  Lavj 
of  the  Church,  p.  30. 

In  October,  1785,  the  General  Convention  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  Stat&s 
was  organized  as  follows  : — 

"  Whereas,  in  the  course  of  Divine  Providence, 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America  is  become  independent  of  all  foreign  au- 
thority, civil  and  ecclesiastical ;  and  whereas,  at  a 
meeting  of  clerical  and  lay  deputies  of  the  said 
Church,  in  sundry  of  the  said  States,  viz.,  in  the 
States  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
and  Maryland,  held  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  the 
(3th  and  7th  days  of  October,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord, 
1784,  it  was  recommended  to  this  Church  in  the  said 
States  represented  as  aforesaid,  and  proposed  to  this 
Church  in  the  States  not  represented,  that  they 
should  send  deputies  to  a  Convention  to  be  held  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on  the  Tuesday  before  the 
feast  of  St.  Michael  in  this  present  year,  in  order  to 
unite  in  a  Constitution  of  ecclesiastical  government, 
agreeable  to  certain  fundamental  principles,  expressed 
in  the  said  recommendation  and  proposal ;  and  where- 
as, in  consequence  of  the  said  recommendation  and 


156  ORGANIZATION   OF   THE 

proposal,  clerical  and  lay  deputies  have  been  duly 
appointed  from  the  said  Church  in  the  States  of  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Mary- 
land, Virginia,  and  South  Carolina,  the  said  deputies 
being  now  assembled,  and  taking  into  consideration 
the  importance  of  maintaining  uniformity  in  doctrine, 
discipline,  and  worship  in  the  said  Church,  do  hereby 
determine  and  declare,"  &c. 

Here  follow  all  the  acts  of  organization  in  detail, 
and  the  subject  matters  thereof,  as  done  at  this  Con- 
vention, relating  to  doctrine,  discipline,  and  general 
polity,  in  part  provisional,  till  future  Conventions 
should  be  able  more  conveniently  to  set  all  things 
in  order.  Among  the  orders  of  this  Convention,  we 
find  the  following :  "  On  motion  resolved,  that  the 
fourth  of  July  shall  be  observed  by  this  Church 
forever,  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God, 
for  the  inestimable  blessings  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  vouchsafed  to  the  United  States  of  America;" 
together  with  a  form  of  service  prescribed  for  the 
occasion. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Church  was  matured  by  a 
committee  appointed  by  this  Convention,  and  adopted 
by  the  Convention  of  1789.  It  will  be  found  in  the 
note  below.* 

^CONSTITUTION 

Of  tlie  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  as  adopted  bj'  the  General  Convention  of  1789,  and  as 
since  amended  by  subsequent  Conventions,  down  to  1841 : 

Anx.  I.  There  shall  be  a  General  Convention  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  on  the  first 
Wednesday  in  October,  in  every  third  year,  from  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-one,  and  in  such  place 


AMEllICAN   EPISCOPAL   CHUECII.  157 

As  a  further  exposition  of  tlic  necessary  course 
pursued  in  the  organization  of  the  American  E^^isco- 

as  sliall  be  detei-mined  by  the  convention  ;  and  iu  case  there  shall 
be  an  epidemic  disease,  or  any  other  good  cause  to  render  it  neces- 
sary to  alter  the  place  fixed  on  for  any  such  meeting  of  the  con- 
vention, the  Presiding  Bishop  shall  have  it  in  his  power  to  appoint 
another  convenient  place  (as  near  as  may  be  to  the  place  so  iixed 
on)  for  the  holding  of  such  convention  ;  and  special  meetings  may 
be  called  at  other  times,  in  the  manner  hereafter  to  be  provided 
for;  and  this  church,  in  a  majority  of  the  dioceses  ■which  shall 
have  adopted  this  Constitution,  shall  be  represented,  before  they 
shall  proceed  to  business ;  except  that  the  representation  from 
two  dioceses  shall  be  sufilcient  to  adjourn :  and  in  all  business  of 
the  convention  freedom  of  debate  shall  be  allowed. 

Art.  II.  The  church  in  each  diocese  shall  be  entitled  to  a 
representation  of  both  the  clergy  and  the  laity,  which  I'epresen- 
tation  shall  consist  of  one  or  more  deputies,  not  exceeding  four 
of  each  order,  chosen  by  the  convention  of  the  diocese  ;  and  iu 
all  questions,  when  required  by  the  clerical  and  lay  representation 
from  any  diocese,  each  order  shall  have  one  vote ;  and  the  ma- 
jority of  suffrages  by  dioceses  shall  be  conclusive  in  each  order, 
provided  such  majority  comprehend  a  majority  of  the  dioceses 
represented  iu  that  order.  The  concurrence  of  both  orders  shall 
be  necessary  to  constitute  a  vote  of  the  convention.  If  the  con- 
vention of  any  diocese  should  neglect  or  decline  to  appoint  clerical 
deputies,  or  if  they  should  neglect  or  decline  to  appoint  lay  depu- 
ties, or  if  any  of  those  of  either  order  appointed,  should  neglect 
to  attend,  or  be  prevented  by  sickness  or  any  other  accident,  such 
diocese  shall  nevertheless  be  considered  as  duly  represented  by 
such  deputy  or  deputies  as  may  attend,  whether  lay  or  clerical. 
And  if,  through  the  neglect  of  the  convention  of  any  of  the 
churches  which  shall  have  adopted,  or  may  hereafter  adopt,  this 
Constitution,  no  deputies,  either  lay  or  clerical,  should  attend  at 
any  Genei-al  Convention,  the  clmrch  in  such  diocese  shall  never- 
theless be  bound  by  the  acts  of  such  convention. 

Aet.  III.  The  bishops  of  tiiis  church,  when  there  shall  be 
three  or  more,  shall,  whenever  General  Conventions  are  held,  form 
a  separate  house,  with  a  right  to  originate  and  propose  acts  for 

14 


158  ORGANIZATION   OP   THE 

pal  Church,  it  may  be  pertinent  to  present  here,  the 
following  extracts  from  the  Preface  of  the  American 
and  English  Books  of  Common  Pi-ajer. 

the  concurrence  of  the  House  of  Deputies,  composed  of  clergy 
and  laity  ;  and  when  any  proposed  act  shall  have  passed  the 
House  of  Deputies,  the  same  shall  be  transmitted  to  the  House  of 
Bishops,  ■who  shall  have  a  negative  thereupon  ;  and  all  acts  of  the 
convention  shall  be  authenticated  by  both  houses.  And  in  all 
cases,  the  House  of  Bishops  shall  signify  to  the  convention  their 
approbation  or  disapprobation  (tlie  latter  with  their  reasons  in 
•writing)  within  three  days  after  the  proposed  act  shall  have  been 
reported  to  them  for  concurrence  ;  and  in  failure  thereof,  it  shall 
have  the  operation  of  a  law.  But  until  there  shall  be  three  or 
more  bishops,  as  aforesaid,  any  bishop  attending  a  General  Con- 
vention shall  be  a  member  ex  officio,  and  shall  vote  with  the 
clerical  deputies  of  the  diocese  to  which  he  belongs  ;  and  a  bishop 
shall  then  preside. 

Art.  IV.  The  bishop  or  bishops  in  every  diocese  shall  be  chosen 
agreeably  to  such  rules  as  shall  be  fixed  by  the  convention  of  that 
diocese ;  and  every  bishop  of  this  church  shall  confine  the  exer- 
cise of  his  episcopal  office  to  his  proper  diocese,  unless  requested 
to  ordain  or  confirm,  or  perform  any  other  act  of  the  episcopal 
office  by  any  church  destitute  of  a  bishop. 

Art.  V.  A  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  any  of  the  United 
States,  or  any  Territory  thereof,  not  now  represented,  may,  at 
any  time  hereafter,  be  admitted  on  acceding  to  this  Constitution  ; 
and  a  new  diocese  to  be  formed  from  one  or  more  existing  dioceses, 
may  be  admitted  under  the  following  restrictions : 

No  new  diocese  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  limits  of 
any  other  diocese,  nor  shall  any  diocese  be  formed  by  the  junction 
of  two  or  more  dioceses,  or  parts  of  dioceses,  unless  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  bishop  and  convention  of  each  of  the  dioceses  con- 
cerned, as  well  as  of  the  General  Convention. 

No  such  new  diocese  shall  be  formed,  which  shall  contain  less 
than  eight  thousand  square  miles  in  one  body,  and  thirty  pres- 
byters, who  have  been  for  at  least  one  year  canonically  resident 
within  the  bounds  of  such  new  diocese,  regularly  settled  in  a 
parish  or  congregation,  and  qualified  to  vote  for  a  bishop.     Nor 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  159 

From  the  Preface  of  the  American  Prayer  Book, 
as   adopted   in   1789 : — "  When,  in   the   course   of 

shall  such  new  diocese  be  formed,  if  thereby  any  existing  diocese 
shall  be  so  reduced  as  to  contain  less  than  eiglit  thousand  square 
miles,  or  less  than  thirty  presbyters,  who  have  been  residing 
therein,  and  settled  and  qualified  as  above  mentioned. 

In  case  one  diocese  shall  be  divided  into  two  dioceses,  the 
diocesan  of  the  diocese  divided  may  elect  the  one  to  which  he  will 
be  attached,  and  shall  thereupon  become  the  diocesan  thereof. 
And  the  assistant  bishop,  if  there  be  one,  may  elect  the  one  to 
which  he  will  be  attached  ;  and  if  it  be  not  the  one  elected  by  the 
bishop,  he  shall  be  the  diocesan  thereof. 

■\Vhcnevcr  the  division  of  the  diocese  into  two  dioceses  shall  bo 
ratified  by  tlie  Genci-al  Convention,  each  of  the  two  dioceses  shall 
be  subject  to  the  constitution  and  canons  of  the  diocese  so  divided, 
except  as  local  circumstances  may  prevent,  until  the  same  may  be 
altered  in  either  diocese  by  the  convention  tliereof.  And  when- 
ever a  diocese  shall  be  formed  out  of  two  or  more  existing  dioceses, 
the  new  diocese  shall  be  subject  to  the  constitution  and  canons 
of  that  one  of  the  said  existing  dioceses,  to  which  the  greater 
number  of  clergymen  shall  have  belonged  pi'ior  to  the  erection  of 
such  new  diocese,  until  the  same  may  be  altered  by  the  convention 
of  the  new  diocese. 

Art.  VI.  The  mode  of  trying  bishops  shall  be  provided  by 
the  General  Convention.  The  court  appointed  for  that  purpose 
shall  be  composed  of  bishops  only.  In  every  diocese,  the  mode 
of  trying  presbyters  and  deacons  may  be  instituted  by  the  con- 
vention of  the  diocese.  None  but  a  bishop  shall  pronounce  sen- 
tence of  admonition,  suspension,  or  degradation  from  the  ministry, 
on  any  clergyman,  whether  bishop,  presbyter,  or  deacon. 

Art.  VII.  No  person  shall  be  admitted  to  holy  orders,  until 
he  shall  have  been  examined  by  the  bishop,  and  by  two  presby- 
ters, and  shall  have  exhibited  such  testimonials  and  other  requi- 
sites as  the  canons,  in  that  case  provided,  may  direct.  Nor  shall 
any  person  be  ordained  until  he  shall  have  subscribed  the  follow- 
ing declaration  : 

"  I  do  believe  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment to  be  the  word  of  God,  and  to  contain  all  things  necessary 


160  ORGANIZATION   OF   THE 

Divine  Providence,  these  American  States  became 
independent  -with  respect  to  civil  government,  their 

to  salvation;  and  I  do  solemnly  engage  to  conform  to  the  doc- 
trines and  worship  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Chm-ch  in  the 
United  States." 

No  person  ordained  by  a  foreign  bishop  shall  be  permitted  to 
officiate  as  a  minister  of  this  church,  until  he  shall  have  complied 
with  the  canon  or  canons  in  that  case  provided,  and  have  also 
subscribed  the  aforesaid  declaration. 

Art.  VIII.  A  book  of  Common  Prayer,  administration  of  the 
sacraments,  and  other  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  church,  articles 
of  religion,  and  a  form  and  manner  of  making,  ordaining  and 
consecrating  bishops,  priests  and  deacons,  when  established  by 
this  or  a  future  General  Convention,  shall  be  used  in  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  church  in  those  dioceses  which  shall  have  adopted 
this  Constitution.  No  alteration  or  addition  shall  be  made  in  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  or  other  offices  of  the  church,  or  the 
Articles  of  Religion,  unless  the  same  shall  be  proposed  in  one 
General  Convention,  and  by  a  resolve  thereof  made  known  to  the 
convention  of  every  diocese,  and  adopted  at  the  subsequent  Gen- 
eral Convention. 

Art.  IX.  This  Constitution  shall  be  unalterable,  unless  in 
General  Convention,  by  the  church,  in  a  majority  of  the  dioceses 
which  may  have  adopted  the  same ;  and  all  alterations  shall  be 
first  proposed  in  one  General  Convention,  and  made  known  to  the 
several  diocesan  conventions,  before  thej'  shall  be  finally  agreed  to, 
or  ratified  in  the  ^ensuing  General  Convention. 

Art.  X.  Bishops  for  foreign  countries,  on  due  application 
therefrom,  may  be  consecrated,  with  the  appi'obation  of  the  bishops 
of  this  church,  or  a  majority  of  them,  signified  to  the  Presiding 
Bishop:  he  thereupon  taking  order  for  the  same,  and  they  being 
satisfied,  that  the  person  designated  for  the  office  has  been  duly 
chosen  and  qualified.  The  order  of  consecration  to  be  conformed, 
as  nearly  as  may  be  in  the  judgment  of  the  bishops,  to  the  one 
used  in  this  church.  Such  bishops,  so  consecrated,  shall  not  be 
eligible  to  the  office  of  diocesan  or  assistant  bishop  in  any  diocese 
in  the  United  States,  nor  be  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  House  of 
Bishops,  nor  exercise  any  episcopal  auth.ority  in  said  States. 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CnUPCH.  161 

ecclesiastical  independence  was  necessarily  included  ; 
and  the  different  religious  denominations  of  Christians 
in  these  States  were  left  at  full  and  equal  liberty  to 
model  and  organize  their  respective  Churches,  and 
forms  of  worship  and  discipline,  in  such  manner 
as  they  might  judge  most  convenient  for  their  future 
prosperity,  consistently  with  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  their  country." 

Again  this  Preface  says  : — "  It  is  a  most  invalua- 
ble part  of  that  blessed  liberty  wherewith  Christ  has 
made  us  free,  that  in  his  worship,  different  forms  and 
usages,  may  without  offence  be  allowed,  provided  the 
substance  of  the  faith  be  kept  alive ;  and  that,  iu 
every  Church,  what  cannot  be  clearly  determined  to 
belong  to  doctrine,  must  be  referred  to  discipline,  and 
therefore  by  common  consent  and  authority,  may  be 
altered,  abridged,  enlarged,  amended  or  otherwise 
disposed  of,  as  may  seem  most  convenient  for  the 
edification  of  the  people." 

The  Church  of  England  has  the  following  sentence 
in  the  preface  of  her  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  bear- 
ing on  the  same  point : — "  The  particular  forms  of 
Divine  worship,  and  the  rites  and  ceremonies  ap- 
pointed to  be  used  therein,  being  things  in  their  own 
nature  indifferent  and  alterable,  and  so  acknowledged, 
it  is  but  reasonable,  that,  upon  weighty  and  important 
considerations,  according  to  the  various  exigencies  of 
times  and  occasions,  such  changes  should  be  made 
therein,  as  to  those  who  are  in  places  of  authority, 

The  polity  of  the  church  is  composed  of  the  above  Constitution, 
and  of  her  code  of  legislation  based  thereupon,  as  found  in  her 
canons,  down  to  this  time. 

14* 


1G2  ORGANIZATION    OF   THE 

should,  from  time  to  time,  seem  either  necessary  or 
expedient." 

The  main  points  to  which  we  desire  to  call  atten- 
tion here,  as  directly  laid  down,  or  necessarily 
implied,  in  the  organization  of  the  American  Episco- 
pal Church,  by  its  provisional  acts  before  being  organ- 
ized, and  by  its  constitutional  and  authoritative  acts 
afterwards,  may  be  represented  in  the  following  pro- 
positions : — 

1.  The  American  Episcopal  Church,  dates  her 
existence,  as  a  branch  of  the  family  of  Christ,  and 
of  the  Church  Catholic,  from  the  time  of  her  organi- 
zation, after  the  establishment  of  American  Indepen- 
dence. 

2.  The  American  Episcopal  Church,  from  the  time 
of  her  organization,  was  and  is,  absolutely,  entirely, 
and  forever  independent  of  all  other  Churches  in 
Christendom,  and  as  such  is  responsible  only  to  the 
Divine  Head  of  the  Church  Catholic. 

3.  Both  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  have  recognized  and  sanctioned 
the  principle  of  revolution,  in  great  emergencies  of 
human  affairs,  as  both  are  based  upon  that  principle, 
and  as  both  have  vindicated  it  in  theory  and  act, 
the  former  having  passed  by  revolution  from  Papacy 
to  Protestantism,  and  the  latter  from  allegiance  to 
the  former,  to  an  independent  position.* 

4.  Both  the  English  and  American  Churches  have 
recognized  and  sanctioned  the  principle  of  improve- 

*  The  American  Chui'ch  was  involved  in  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, and  went  with  it,  though  the  recognition  of  her  independence 
bj  the  mother  Church,  was  a  pacific  ari-angement. 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  163 

ment  in  forms  of  worsliip,  in  discipline,  and  in  polity, 
"  according  to  the  various  exigencies  of  times  and 
o(rcasions,"  under  the  action  of  the  General  Synod 
of  the  Church. 

5.  The  American  Episcopal  Church,  in  recog- 
nizing the  laity  as  an  elementary  power  of  the 
Church  for  purposes  of  legislation  and  government, 
and  in  the  manner  and  extent  of  that  recognition, 
has  incorporated  in  the  Church  the  fundamental 
principle  of  republicanism,  in  conformity  to  the 
genius  of  the  American  people,  and  of  American 
institutions. 

6.  In  the  title  or  style  of  "  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  in  the  United  States,"  the  American 
Church  has  defined,  declared,  and  published  to  the 
■world,  her  position  in  relation  to  the  Church  of 
Rome. 

[The  above  propositions  we  regard  as  flowing 
directly  from  the  history  of  the  organization  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  following  as 
implied :] 

7.  Authority  for  the  usages  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  in  the  public  administration  of 
her  offices,  does  not  lie  back  of  the  date  of  her 
existence,  or  outside  of  her  own  pale,  except  so  far 
as  those  usages  have  been  recognized  and  sanctioned 
by  the  action  and  practice    of  the  Church. 

8.  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  as  altered, 
amended,  and  adopted  by  the  General  Convention, 
is  the  sole  authority  for  the  ministers  of  the  Church, 
in  regulating  their  modes  of  public  administration. 

9.  The  best  and  most  reliable  interpreter  of  the 


164  ORGANIZATION   OF  THE   CHURCH. 

purposes  and  uses  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
as  to  modes  of  administration,  is  the  general  practice 
of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  since  its  adop- 
tion, in  connection  with  the  rubrics  therein  con- 
tained. 

10.  In  regard  to  modes  of  administration,  any 
interpretation  of  the  purposes  and  uses  of  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  drawn  from  histories  and  cus- 
toms foreign  to  the  history  and  customs  of  the  Ame- 
rican Episcopal  Church,  and  not  founded  on  the 
rubrical  prescriptions  of  the  Prayer  Book,  is  unau- 
thorized by  the  Church,  and  contrary  to  her  genius. 

11.  The  genius  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church 
is  opposed  to  the  excessive  ritual  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  to  all  imitations  thereof,  and  to  all  approxi- 
mations thereunto,  not  justified  by  the  general  prac- 
tice of  the  Church,  and  the  directions  of  the  Prayer 
Book. 

12.  The  past  is  a  legitimate  field  of  research,  for 
verifying  and  vindicating  the  general  economy,  the 
faith,  the  principles,  and  the  usages  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  in  all  that  was  recognized,  adopted, 
and  established  at  her  organization ;  but  not  for 
adding  any  thing  in  either  of  the  above  named  par- 
ticulars, without  the  consent  of  the  Church  expressed 
in  the  form  of  legislation. 

The  above  propositions  will  be  noticed  and  applied 
in  the  progress  of  the  work,  as  occasion  may  require. 


CHAPTER  Vni. 

THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  AMERICAX  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  AS  SHOWN" 
IN  THE  TITLE  SHE  HAS  ADOPTED,  AND  IN  HER  REPUBLICAN 
CHARACTER. 

In  all  the  preliminary  steps  for  the  organization 
of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  hi  and  for  the 
United  States,  as  an  independent  nation,  a  consider- 
ate regard  seems  to  have  been  had  for  the  new  posi- 
tion to  be  occupied  by  this  Church.  In  the  first 
place,  the  name  or  style  of  this  new  branch  of  the 
Christian  family,  was  of  no  inconsiderable  importance, 
and  is  in  fact,  of  great  significancy,  not  only  as  declai"- 
atory  of  the  feeling  and  purpose  of  those  engaged  in 
this  work,  but  as  a  definition  of  the  position  which  this 
Church  was  intended  to  occupy,  in  all  future  time, 
in  relation  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  It  was  styled 
"  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States."  This  word,  Protestant,  was  not  an  accident, 
but  a  principle — a  great  principle.  It  was  not  in- 
considerately, but  considerately,  introduced  in  the 
title.  It  would  be  a  libel  on  those  who  put  it  there, 
to  suppose  it  had  no  meaning.  Its  historical  import 
was  in  the  mind  of  all  the  world.  It  is  a  great  word, 
and  carries  in  it  the  most  pregnant  histories  which 
the  pen  of  man  has  ever  recorded.  The  entire  his- 
tory of  the  Church  of  Rome,  from  her  perversion 
down  to  the  Reformation,  \i  there.     The  history  of 

(165) 


166  PROTESTANT   CHARACTER   OF 

the  Reformation  itself  is  there.  The  history  of  the 
Church  of  England,  as  a  Protestant  Church,  is  there. 
The  religious  and  political  history  of  all  Christendom 
for, more  than  three  centuries,  is  there.  The  history 
of  the  greatest  crimes  that  have  ever  afflicted,  and  of 
the  most  eminent  virtues  that  have  adorned  humanity, 
is  there.  There  is  not  another  word  in  any  or  in  all 
languages,  of  an  historical  import,  more  highly  charged 
■with  meaning  than  this.  And  it  is  not  a  word  that 
could  ever  sleep  in  men's  minds,  as  one  of  insignifi- 
cance, or  in  regard  to  which  men  could  be  indiflerent. 

The  organization  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church,  independent  of  the  mother  Church,  as  the 
United  States  were  independent  of  the  mother  coun- 
try, was  an  event  of  no  mean  consideration ;  and  the 
title  which  she  was  to  wear  in  all  future  time,  in  the 
ears  of  the  world,  and  in  the  records  of  history,  Avas 
to  be  a  definition  of  her  character,  and  of  her  posi- 
tioji.  Will  any  say,  that  they  who  decreed  this  title, 
did  not  understand  this  ?  Or  that  the  Church  hei*- 
self,  from  that  time  to  this,  or  that  the  public,  have 
not  understood  it  ?  If  there  be  any  single  fact  that 
could  determine  the  genius  of  the  American  Episco- 
pal Church,  more  than  another,  it  is  the  original 
bestowment  and  her  proud  subsequent  wearing  of 
this  name  of  Protestant,  down  to  this  time. 

The  great  battle  of  freedom,  between  the  claims 
of  the  Church  of  Rome  on  one  hand,  and  the  claims 
of  humanity  on  the  other,  was  well  begun  by  the 
Reformers  ;  but  it  did  not  end  there.  The  polity  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  so  comprehensive,  so  vast,  so 
compactly  put   together,  which  absorbed   so  many 


THE   AMERICAN   CHURCH.  167 

centuries  for  its  growth  and  completion,  and  which 
still  holds  the  grasp  of  a  strong  hand  on  most  of  the 
states  and  nations  of  Christendom,  entering  into 
their  counsels  and  controlling  them,  pervading  their 
several  structures,  and  bracing  them  up  for  its  own 
purposes,  is  not  an  edifice  that  could  be  brought 
down  to  the  ground  by  a  single  blow,  not  even  by 
one  so  potent  as  that  of  the  Reformation.  The 
dogmas  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  peculiar  to  herself, 
and  orisinatincr  in  her  own  bosom,  have  moulded  the 
intellect  and  heart  of  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the 
Christian  world.  Her  missionaries  have  gone  out  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  anticipated  the  march  of 
civilization.  In  all  Christian  and  pagan  lands,  she 
still  rears  her  front  of  bold  and  lofty  pretensions, 
denouncing  all  opposition  as  wicked  and  damnable, 
as  having  incurred  the  pains  of  eternal  death,  to  be 
inflicted  by  her  hand.  Iler  claims  in  nothing  re- 
laxed, are  for  ever  the  same,  though  her  policy  is 
adapted  to  time  and  circumstance.  Witness  her 
recent  attempts  of  invasion  on  the  British  empire, 
by  throwing  over  it  the  arms  of  her  hierarchy,  to 
recover  her  former  and  long  lost  hold.  Dead  or 
dying  in  one  place,  apparently  for  a  season,  like  the 
fabled  hydra,  she  erects  a  thousand  hideous  heads  in 
other  quarters,  for  every  one  that  has  been  cut  off. 
Upon  her  forehead,  branded  by  Divine  prophecy, 
there  still  glares  out  to  the  gaze  of  the  world, 
the  name,  "  Mystery,  Babylon  the  Great,  the 
Mother  of  Harlots,  and  Abominations  of  the 
Earth."     The  charm  of  the  serpent  is  not  more 


168        REPUBLICAN  CHARACTER  OF 

captivating,    and    scarcely   is   the   serpent's   victim 
more  sure. 

Tlic  battle  between  Papal  power  and  freedom  on 
the  American  continent,  is  yet  in  the  distant  future. 
But  come  it  must,  and  "  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States"  must  have  her  part  in 
it.  "We  know  not  in  what  form  it  will  break  forth 
on  society.  He  that  is  forewarned,  should  be  fore- 
armed. The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  cannot 
shrink  from  the  contest.  She  has,  from  the  begin- 
ning, flung  her  banner  out  in  her  name,  and  still 
proudly  vfears  it.  She  may  not  have  been  fully  con- 
scious of  her  destiny,  Avhen  she  spread  it  to  the 
breeze.  But  there  it  is  in  her  hand ;  there  it  is  in 
the  baptism  on  her  forehead ;  and  the  sentiment, 
deep  and  irradicable,  is  in  her  heart.  It  is  an 
clement  of  her  genius,  and  a  pervading  one.  Iler 
antagonism  to  Rome,  was  sucked  from  her  mother's 
breast ;  is  in  her  blood,  and  sinews,  and  bones ;  and 
she  must  cease  to  be,  before  she  can  cease  to  be 
Protestant. 

But  the  republican  character  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church  illustrates  its  genius  in  a  very 
interesting,  important,  instructive,  and  practical 
point  of  view.  The  genius  of  the  American  Church 
is  not  like  the  genius  of  the  Church  of  England; 
not  at  all ;  though  many,  perhaps,  have  supposed  it 
so,  and  taken  it  for  granted.  We  acknowledge  the 
relation  of  child  to  parent.  We  revere  the  mother, 
and  love  all  her  children  as  brethren.  As  disciples 
of  a  common  Master,  we  give  and  take  the  hand  of 
fellowship  with  a  most  sincere  and  fraternal  regard. 


THE   AMERICAN   CHURCH.  169 

As  deriving  our  Episcopate  from  that  quarter,  we 
thank  God  for  it,  and  the  Church  of  England  next. 
But  she  knows,  and  all  the  world  knows,  that  she 
was  as  much  honored  in  bestowing,  as  we  in  receiving 
it.  She  was  bound  to  bestow  it,  and  was  only  in 
fault,  as  one  of  her  own  prelates,  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford,  has  confessed  in  so  many  forms,  in  his 
"  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
America,"  that  she  did  not  bestOAv  it  long  before. 
Episcopacy  is  not  the  gift  of  man,  to  be  used  at  the 
discretion  or  will  of  man.  It  is  the  gift  of  God,  of 
the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  as  a  sacred  trust,  to 
be  conferred  by  those  who  hold  it  in  their  hands, 
wherever  the  Church  has  need  of  it.  But  we  are  not 
ungrateful  for  this  gift,  as  late  as  it  came.  It  came 
at  last  from  a  willing  and  cheerful  heart,  and  was 
received  with  a  thankful  one ;  and  we  still  love  those 
who  presented  us  with  this  prerogative,  so  indispen- 
sable to  the  prosperity,  to  the  very  existence  of  the 
American  Church,  in  the  primitive  and  apostolic 
forms ;  and  we  are  not  ungrateful  for  the  admirable 
liturgy  and  articles  of  faith  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, which,  under  such  alterations  and  amendments, 
as  were  required  in  our  new  position,  we  have 
adopted  as  our  own. 

But  from  the  cradle  of  our  infancy  we  have  grown 
up  to  manhood,  and  we  are  now  equals,  still  reve- 
rencing the  mother  that  bore  us,  and  ready  to  fra- 
ternize, in  all  Christian  offices,  with  her  children. 
But  we  have  been  educated  in  a  different  school — a 
school  of  Providence.  It  was  Providence  that  made 
us  what  we  are  as  Churchmen,  not  our  mother  of 
15 


170  KEPUBLICAIf   CHARACTER   OF 

England.  It  "^'as  Providence  that  opened  the  Ame- 
rican continent,  as  the  balance  po-\vcr  of  the  -world, 
in  a  moral  as  well  as  in  a  physical  sense.  It  was 
Providence  that  planted  the  Anglo  Saxon  race  in 
North  America,  bringing  with  them  the  Protestant 
religion,  under  peculiar  trials,  answerable,  perhaps, 
to  the  woman  of  the  Apocalypse,  who  was  "  clothed 
with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and  upon 
her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars ;"  and  who,  after 
the  birth  of  her  child,  "  fled  into  the  wilderness, 
where  she  had  a  place  prepared  for  her  of  God."  It 
was  Providence  that  inspired  the  people  of  this  con- 
tinent with  new  and  loftier  aspirations  after  freedom, 
the  fervor  and  vigor  of  which  have  been  augmented 
by  time  and  events.  It  was  Providence  that  made 
America  a  refuge  for  the  people  of  all  the  oppressed 
nations  of  Europe.  It  was  Providence  which  pre- 
pared the  way  for  American  independence,  and 
established  it.  It  was  Providence  that  educated  the 
people  of  the  United  States  in  the  school  of  their 
own  peculiar  training,  and  for  a  great  purpose.  If 
they  had  been  fashioned  in  character  after  the 
model  of  European  nations,  or  of  any  one  of  the 
nations  of  Europe,  or  of  the  British  nation,  they 
would  never  have  been  qualified  for  their  great  mis- 
sion. They  were  moulded  by  the  hand  of  God,  for 
a  specific  destiny. 

This  point  of  the  subject  is  of  still  greater  interest 
and  importance,  if  we  regard  the  common  instinctive 
feeling  of  the  world,  which  is  doubtless  worthy  of 
some,  if  not  of  great  respect,  to  wit,  that  the  Ameri- 
can continent  is  destined  to  take  the  lead  in  the 


THE   AMERICAN   CHURCH.  171 

march  of  Christian  civilization.  The  whole  of  Europe 
is  under  the  shackles  of  old  forms  of  society,  which, 
as  yet,  have  not  worked  well  for  improvement ;  while 
America  has,  almost  by  a  single  bound,  leaped  for- 
ward to  a  most  hopeful  position,  not  only  as  to  her 
prospective  influence  on  the  future  of  this  hemisphere, 
but  on  the  future  of  the  whole  world.  Having  once 
broken  loose  from  European  pupilage,  and  with  such 
eminent  success,  walking  alone  in  the  proud  con- 
sciousness of  her  own  independence,  she  cannot  fall 
back,  she  is  bound  to  go  forward.  The  several 
bodies  of  Christians  planted  here,  must  necessarily 
sympathize  with  this  position,  and  with  these  hopes, 
and  their  polities  must  be  shaped  accordingly.  Ours 
is  not  the  taste  for  going  backward,  and  for  being 
founded  and  shaped  on  the  past;  but  we  have 
acquired  some  new  tastes,  some  new  aspirations. 
We  have  already  a  manhood  of  character,  that  is 
entitled  to  assert  the  claims  of  manhood.  We  have 
not  refused  to  borrow  from  Europe,  and  to  adopt 
what  is  good  from  the  remote  past;  but  we  have 
invented  something  good.  We  have  sifted  the  past, 
examined  the  present,  looked  into  the  chances  of  the 
future,  and  shaped  our  course,  after  a  survey  of  the 
entire  field,  influenced  doubtless,  properly  influenced, 
by  a  sense  of  our  new  and  peculiar  position. 

It  cannot  but  be  seen  how  wise  and  prudent  it  was, 
in  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  to  allow  herself 
to  be  moulded,  to  insist  on  being  moulded,  in  the 
outset,  into  a  character  that  was  fitted  for  the  times, 
for  the  occasion ;  and  as  we  now  see,  for  all  future 
time,  and  for  all  future  occasions.     No  one  can  con- 


172        REPUBLICAN  CHARACTER  OF 

ceive  of  a  probable  future  of  this  country,  to  which 
the  polity  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  is  not 
adapted.  She  is  framed  for  a  destiny  as  lofty  and 
as  large  as  the  world  can  ever  demand ;  and  cer- 
tainly the  aspects  of  the  field  she  occupies,  are  as 
hopeful  as  any  the  world  ever  saw. 

We  may  also  say  of  that  portion  of  the  American 
people  who  have  come  within  the  pale  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  and  Avho  are  still  coming  into  it, 
that  they  are  not  moulded  after  the  fashion  of  Eng- 
lish Churchmen,  never  could  be,  never  ought  to  be. 
We  say  not  this  in  derogation  of  the  character  of 
the  English  Church.  Not  at  all.  But  only  out  of 
respect  to  that  Providence,  which  had  a  different 
mission  for  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  from 
that  of  the  Church  of  England  —  almost  totally 
different.  The  American  Church  was  planted  in  a 
widely  different  field,  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of 
different  habits,  of  different  modes  of  thinking,  and 
whose  genius,  morally,  socially,  and  politically,  was 
altogether  peculiar.  Who  docs  not  see  and  know, 
that  the  Church  of  England,  Avith  her  peculiar  genius 
and  organization,  could  never  be  useful  here  ?  The 
greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  extension  and 
l^rosperity  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  down 
to  this  time,  has  been  the  erroneous  assumption,  that 
she  is  a  type  of  the  English  church — the  same  thing. 
She  is  not  the  same  thing,  far  from  it,  as  we  shall 
yet  have  occasion  largely  to  show ;  but  in  this  place, 
we  have  only  to  do  Avith  that  radical,  fundamental, 
vital,  and  most  important  difference,  the  republican 
character  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church.     Her 


THE   AMERICAN   CHURCH.  173 

polity,  in  this  particular,  is  established,  v^as  fixed  in 
her  organization,  and  never  -vvill  be  changed.  It  is 
morally  impossible  it  should  be  changed,  as  the  laity, 
wlio  are  always  jealous  of  their  rights,  have  a 
balance  power,  in  the  vestries,  in  the  diocesan  Con- 
ventions, and  in  the  General  Convention.  Bishop 
White,  in  his  Memoirs,  says :  "  Episcopacy  as  now 
settled  in  America,  must  be  confessed  as  analogous 
as  Presbytery — the  author  thinks  much  more  so — 
to  the  plan  of  civil  government,  which  mature  deli- 
beration has  established  over  the  Union;  and  to 
those  plans,  which,  even  during  the  heats  of  popular 
commotion,  were  adopted  for  the  individual  States." 
The  Church  of  England  is  not  so.  There  is  not  a 
single  feature  of  republicanism  in  her  polity,  A 
parish,  in  connexion  with  the  Establishment,  has  no 
voice  in  the  choice  of  a  clergyman  who  is  to  serve 
them,  or  in  the  administration  of  parochial  affairs. 
The  laity  have  no  representation  in  any  ecclesiastical 
body,  and  no  influence  of  any  sort  in  the  legislation 
for  the  Church,  except  in  the  election  of  members  of 
Parliament,  which  is  a  civil,  and  not  an  ecclesiastical 
right.  Parliament  does  all  the  legislation  for  the 
Church.  In  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  all 
her  legislation  is  done  in  the  General  and  Dio- 
cesan Conventions,  W'here  the  laity  are  always  a 
balance  power ;  and  not  only  so,  but  they  have 
the  entire  control  of  their  own  parochial  aifairs. 
This  difference  between  the  Church  of  England  and 
the  American  Episcopal  Church,  is  one  of  great 
import,  and  of  great  practical  importance,  as  can 
hardly  fail  to  be  seen.  In  the  former  Church,  the 
15* 


174        REPUBLICAN  CHARACTER  OF 

laity,  in  point  of  influence  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  are 
a  defunct  body ;  or  rather,  tliey  never  had  any  life. 
In  the  latter,  they  are  a  part,  and  an  equal  part,  of 
the  living  soul  of  the  Church,  for  all  purposes  of 
ecclesiastical  legislation  and  administration. 

There  is  one  ghost  of  popular  apprehension,  which 
has  been  always  haunting,  and  still  haunts  the  minds 
of  persons  not  within  the  pale  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  and  that  is,  the  power  of  the 
bishops.  They  have  heard  what  it  is  in  England 
and  elsewhere,  and  they  think  it  must  be  the  same 
here.  On  this  point,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  remark, 
that  the  bishop's  power,  in  the  American  Church,  is 
entirely  under  the  control  of  the  canons,  in  the  en- 
actment of  which  the  laity  always  have  had,  and  still 
have  an  equal  voice,  and  that  a  bishop  is  equally 
liable  to  be  arraigned  and  tried  by  the  canons,  for 
abuse  of  power,  or  for  any  other  maladministration, 
and  for  malconduct  of  any  kind,  as  any  presbyter, 
or  deacon,  or  layman  in  the  Church ;  and  the  history 
of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  will  show,  that 
this  is  sometimes  done,  when  the  unfortunate  occasion 
demands  it.  Under  such  a  system  of  Church  repub- 
licanism, the  bishop,  of  all  men  in  the  Church,  is 
most  dependant  on  his  character,  for  official  influ- 
ence and  usefulness,  and  for  personal  happiness.  He 
has  the  strongest  motives  for  fidelity,  and  suffers 
most  for  want  of  it.  The  eye  of  the  Church  is  upon 
him,  and  the  republican  spirit  of  the  Church  is  ever 
aware  of  its  prerogative  in  watching  and  arraigning 
him,  if  his  faults  demand  it. 

The  truth,  after  all,  with  these  fault-finders,  pro- 


THE   AMERICAN    CHURCH.  1T5 

bably  is,  that  their  only  objection  to  a  bishop,  is  a 
bishop.  But  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  there  must  be 
a  bishop,  as  all  know.  It  is  fundamental,  a  sine  qua 
non.  This  is  not  the  place  to  show  the  Divine  origin 
of  the  office,  or  how  suitable  and  how  important  it  is. 
But  when  its  power  is  seen  to  be  limited  and  con- 
trolled, as  above  shown,  by  the  republican  genius 
and  practice  of  the  Church,  this  objection,  one  would 
think,  ought  to  be  silenced,  and  a  suitable  respect 
awarded  to  the  conscientious  convictions  of  Episco- 
palians, as  to  the  obligations  of  the  Church,  resulting 
from  Divine  appointment,  to  have  bishops. 

Notwithstanding  that  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  in  his 
history,  makes  his  criticisms,  as  might  be  expected, 
on  the  republican  character  of  the  American  Church, 
he  nevertheless  speaks  of  it  with  respect,  and  is 
forced  to  acknowledge,  in  the  face  of  the  want  of  it 
in  the  English  Church,  that  it  is  in  conformity  with 
primitive  practice,  under  the  Apostles.  Speaking 
of  the  General  Convention  of  Philadelphia,  in  1787, 
he  says:  "For  the  first  time  it  was  gathered  to- 
gether, in  the  full  likeness  of  that  Council,  to  which 
'  the  Apostles  and  Elders  came  together  at  Jerusa- 
lem.' For  now,  as  then,  it  met  with  bishops  at  its 
head,  with  presbyters  and  deacons,  each  in  their 
own  order,  and  with  the  laity,  '  the  multitude  of  the 
faithful,'  taking  solemn  counsel  for  the  welfare  of 
Zion." 

It  is  an  interesting  and  important  practical  con- 
sideration, that  Church  politics  may  be  framed  to 
suit  any  state  of  society,  under  a  monarchy  or  a 
republic,  or  under  any  form  of  either,  without  sacri- 


176        EEPUBLICAN  CHARACTER  OF 

ficing  any  thing  vital  in  Christianity.  So  far  as 
appears,  and  necessarily,  the  Church  commenced  its 
career,  under  the  Apostles,  in  the  use  of  the  simplest 
forms  of  oral  polity  and  modes  of  Avorship.  Their 
extension  was  the  result  of  time  and  circumstance, 
first  as  ordered  by  the  Apostles,  and  next  as  agreed 
to  by  conventional  legislation.  The  things  in  the 
Church,  which  cannot  be  touched  by  the  hand  of 
man  to  modify,  or  to  originate  any  thing  to  fill 
their  places,  are,  first,  the  inspired  writings ;  next, 
the  Christian  Ministry,  as  instituted  by  the  Head 
of  the  Church ;  thirdly,  the  permanent  offices  csta- 
bhshed  by  the  Apostles,  which,  in  the  belief  of 
Episcopalians,  are  bishops,  presbyters,  and  dea- 
cons ;  and,  lastly,  the  two  Sacraments  and  the 
rite  of  Confirmation.  Beyond  these,  nothing  appears 
to  be  authoritatively  prescribed  as  to  Church  polity, 
modes  of  worship,  or  articles  of  belief,  except  a  body 
of  great  and  fundamental  principles,  distinctly  put 
forward,  here  and  there,  by  Christ  and  his  Apostles, 
as  a  guide  to  all  Christians  in  all  ages,  on  which  the 
Apostles  themselves  erected  the  Church,  "  Jesus 
Christ  being  the  chief  corner-stone."  The  things 
originally  published,  and  always  available,  are  ijrin- 
ciples^  rather  than  modes.  In  this  we  see  the  wisdom 
of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  that,  in  all  things 
not  essential  to  the  vitality  of  Christianity  and  of  the 
truths  of  the  Gospel,  the  Church  might  be  extended 
over  all  nations,  and  through  all  ages,  under  such 
forms  of  polity,  and  modes  of  worship,  as  would  be 
best  adapted  to  her  efficiency  and  usefulness,  among 
any  people,  and  in  any  state  of  society  whatsoever. 


THE   AMERICAN   CHURCH.  177 

The  American  Episcopal  Church,  finding  herself,  in 
her  component  elements  as  members  of  a  civil  com- 
monwealth, part  and  parcel  of  a  republic,  and  sym- 
pathizing with  republican  institutions,  as  she  had  an 
undoubted  right  to  do,  judged  it  right  and  expedient, 
in  the  outset  of  her  career  as  a  distinct  branch  of  the 
family  of  Christ,  in  her  very  organization,  to  incor- 
porate the  republican  principle  as  a  fundamental, 
pervading,  and  controlling  element  of  her  polity ; 
and  in  doing  that,  she  placed  herself  on  the  primitive 
foundation  of  the  Apostles.  It  was  no  less  an  act 
of  superlative  wisdom,  than  of  eminent  Christian 
virtue.  If  she  could  not  show,  that  she  is  republican 
in  her  character,  how  could  she  expect  the  favor  of 
the  American  people  ?  And  that  she  is  fundamentally 
so,  will  appear  from  an  examination  of  her  polity. 
The  "Wesleyan  society,  in  the  United  States,  is  un- 
dergoing a  revolution  at  this  moment,  to  establish  the 
co-ordinate  power  of  the  laity,  which  has  hitherto 
been  denied  them,  and  it  is  sure  to  be  attained,  be- 
cause it  is  the  genius  of  the  American  people. 

The  wisdom  of  this  part  of  the  polity  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  still  farther  appears  in 
its  practical  operation,  in  bringing  the  most  eminent 
talent  of  the  laity  into  the  councils  of  the  church, 
for  legislation  and  other  functions  of  government. 
We  are  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  say,  but  it  is  a  well 
known  fact,  that  clergymen  are  not  usually  so  prac- 
tical in  their  views  of  life  and  of  men,  as  the  laity  ; 
and  nothing  is  more  important  in  the  public  councils 
of  the  church,  than  this  sort  of  talent.  The  expe- 
rience of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  has  evinced, 


178  THE   CHURCH   REPUBLICAN. 

in  a  thousand  different  ways,  and  on  a  thousand  dif- 
ferent occasions,  how  much  she  is  indebted  to  the 
counsels  and  influence  of  the  laity.  It  is  doubtless 
owing,  partly  to  defects  of  education  in  the  clergy, 
partly  to  their  isolation  from  general  society,  and  to 
the  peculiar  habits  of  their  profession,  that  they  have 
less  practical  wisdom  than  the  laity,  and  that  they 
are  more  liable  to  err  on  questions  of  legislation  and 
administration  in  Church  affairs.  Often  has  the 
Church  been  saved  from  grave  mistakes  in  her  public 
acts,  by  the  superior  tact  of  the  laity ;  and  equally 
often  has  she  acquired  great  practical  advantages  by 
the  same  means.  So  general  is  tliis  impression  of 
the  salutary  inflluence  of  the  laity  in  the  public  coun- 
cils of  the  Church,  that  probably  not  a  bishop  or  a 
clergyman  would  now  be  willing  to  dispense  with  tbis 
co-ordinate  power  and-  authority.  It  is  felt  to  be 
important  and  necessary.  None  can  deny,  on  the  con- 
trary, all  must  see,  that  the  genius  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church  is  republican. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   GENIUS   OF   THE  AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  AS  SHOTVN  IN 
THE    SHAPES   AND   PRACTICAL   OPERATION   OF   HER   AUTHORITY. 

The  theory  of  the  Episcopal  office,  as  derived  from 
Christ,  through  the  Apostles,  is,  that  a  bishop  has 
power  to  do  any  thing,  any  where,  which  he  may 
judge  best,  or  think  incumbent  upon  him,  for  the 
enlargement  and  edification  of  the  Church.  Such  was 
the  high  and  unlimited  discretion  of  the  Apostles. 
Such  is  the  essence  of  Episcopal  care  in  all  ages 
and  places,  except  as  it  is  qualified,  abridged,  and 
regulated  by  conventional  rules,  or  by  the  polities 
of  the  Church.  Under  the  Apostles  we  do  not  hear 
of  any  church  polity,  except  in  their  own  oral  and 
epistolary  orders.  They  acted  under  Divine  inspira- 
tion, and  their  orders  were  the  only  polity,  always 
right  and  sufficient.  Obedience  to  them  was  safe 
and  best,  and  they  were  obeyed.  But  subsequejitly 
more  extended  conventional  polities,  based  on  the 
instructions  of  the  Apostles,  which  were  well  known 
by  tradition,  and  on  their  epistolary  records,  became 
indispensable;  and  so  far  as  they  applied  to  the 
bishops,  they  were  as  binding  on  them,  as  on  other 
officers  and  members  of  the  Church.  It  is  the  nature 
and  necessity  of  all  societies,  that  each  must  have  a 
poHty,    whicli,  indeed,    is   the   very   essence   of  its 

structure. 

(179) 


180  THE   AUTHORITY    OF   THE 

In  tlie  organization  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church,  as  seen  in  a  preceding  chapter,  her  polity 
brings  the  bishops  under  hnv,  as  much  as  a  presbyter, 
deacon,  or  layman.  The  theory  of  the  Episcopal 
office  is,  ho-wever,  still  the  same,  within  the  limits 
and  under  the  regulations  of  the  canons.  Under  that 
system,  and  guided  by  it,  the  bishop  has  power  to  do 
any  thing  he  may  think  best  for  the  enlargement  and 
edification  of  the  Churcli,  he  being  responsible  for 
results.  But  he  must  not  violate  the  principles,  or 
trespass  on  the  lines  of  that  polity.* 

The  authority  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church 
is  purely  and  exclusively  canonical.  It  is  in  no  case, 
and  in  no  degree,  personal  or  arbitrary.  This  is  a 
most  important  and  practical  distinction.  Personal 
authority  or  influence  is  entirely  without  the  pale  of 
canonical  authority,  though  not  necessarily  in  viola- 
tion of  it.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  most  important 
faculty  of  usefulness,  not  only  in  carrying  out  the 
purposes  of  canonical  regulations,  but  in  doing  good 
in  a  thousand  forms  which  canonical  authority  could 
never  reach,  and  which  the  latter  does  not  forbid. 
Cani)nical  authority  tells  how  things  should  be  done, 
and  what  things  may  not  be  done.  It  defines  rights 
and  privileges.     As  far  as  possible  it  has  taken  care 

*  By  the  polity  of  the  Church,  we  mean  its  Constitution,  and 
the  body  of  its  Canons,  as  adopted  and  amended  from  time  to 
time.  The  Canons,  properly,  constitute  the  code  of  legislation, 
based  on  the  Constitution.  The  Constitution  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  vre  have  given  in  a  note,  page  156.  The  canons 
would  make  a  small  book  by  themselves,  and  in  a  work  of  this 
kind,  can  only  be  referred  to  generally.  A  more  extended  defini- 
tion of  Church  polity  will  be  found  in  the  first  chapter. 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  181 

of  the  rights  of  all,  by  prescribing  the  duties  of  all, 
directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  shape  of  principles  and 
of  specific  cases,  where  it  could  not  give  precise  rules 
for  all  cases.  Canonical  rules  are  necessarily  few  and 
general,  and  by  the  same  necessity  are  comprehen- 
sive. But  personal  authority  or  influence  extends 
over  the  entire  surface  of  society,  and  acts  on  every 
individual  who  comes  in  its  way.  It  descends  into 
detail,  and  adapts  itself  to  the  shape  of  every  new 
occurrence,  to  all  varieties  of  character,  and  to  the 
vicissitudes  of  events.  It  is  an  instinctive  discretion, 
which  God  has  given  to  man,  susceptible  of  being 
regulated  by  tried  maxims,  and  improved  by  expe- 
rience. There  are  no  bounds  to  the  good  or  to  the 
evil  which  it  may  accomplish.  Under  the  promptings 
of  true  religion,  and  of  a  conscientious  regard  to 
public  polity,  it  may  acquire  to  itself  an  unlimited 
field  of  usefulness ;  or  by  the  bad  use  of  one's  posi- 
tion, it  may  do  infinite  harm.  In  the  same  manner 
a  bishop's  personal  authority  or  influence,  if  rightly 
used,  may  extend  its  beneficent  efi"ects  without  limit ; 
or  if  perverse,  there  are  no  bounds  to  the  evil  he 
may  do,  except  as  he  is  brought  to  account  by  canon- 
ical authority.  Personal  authority  in  the  Church 
should  always  be  kept  apart  from  canonical  authority, 
as  they  are  never  identical,  though  they  may  be  co- 
incident, and  always  should  be,  Avhen  they  come  in 
contact.  Uut  the  field  of  personal  authority,  or  the 
ground  that  may  be  occupied  by  it,  is  infinitely  the 
widest.  No  human  polity  can  reach  the  minutiiie 
of   human  actions  ;  but   personal  influence  reaches 

them  all. 

16 


182  THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE 

We  have  only  proposed  by  these  remarks  to  show, 
that,  as  the  American  Episcopal  Church  is  a  consti- 
tutional Church,  its  authority  is  derived  from  the 
Constitution,  and  defined  more  particularly  by  the 
code  of  legislation  founded  upon  it.  It  is  not  per- 
sonal or  arbitrary.  With  this  distinction  in  view, 
every  officer  and  every  member  of  the  Church  can 
ascertain  both  his  duty  and  his  rights.  If  a  bishop 
trespass  on  the  rights  of  a  presbyter  or  deacon,  or 
if  a  presbyter  or  deacon  trespass  on  the  rights  of  the 
laity,  or  of  any  member  of  the  laical  body ;  or  if 
any  party  in  the  Church  violate  the  rights  of  another 
party ;  all  these  aggrieved  parties  have  the  right  of 
appeal  to  canonical  autliority  for  the  vindication  of 
their  rights.  The  personal  authority  of  the  aggres- 
sor "will  avail  him  nothing,  but  will  only  aggravate 
his  offence  for  such  a  use  of  it.  The  Church  tolerates 
no  arbitrary  power.  Such  power  may  prosper  for  a 
season ;  but  a  day  of  retribution  awaits  it.  The  per- 
sonal authority  of  a  bishop  or  of  a  presbyter,  regu- 
lated by  canonical  authority,  is  ahvays  sufficient  for  all 
purposes  of  usefulness ;  but  it  may  be  abused  for  bad 
ends,  though,  in  the  latter  case,  it  is  always  open  to 
scrutiny  and  arrest.  A  bishop  and  the  clergy  are 
always  held  in  respect,  if  they  are  exemplary  in  their 
lives  and  calling.  Their  office  is  respected ;  and 
their  personal  character,  if  good,  greatly  augments 
the  influence  of  their  office ;  and  both  these  influ- 
ences, embodied  in  one  person,  naturally  become  per- 
sonal, in  their  operation  on  the  public.  The  personal 
authority  or  influence  of  a  bishop  and  of  the  clergy, 
therefore,  is  eminent,  from  the  position  they  occupy. 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  183 

and  may  often  require  the  cliecks  and  corrections  of 
canonical  authority.  It  is  always  sufficient  for  all 
purposes  of  usefulness;  and  sometimes,  alas,  it  is 
ahused  to  bad  purposes.  But  there  is  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  the  code  of  legislation,  staring  all  oflfenders 
in  the  face,  and  ready  to  protect  the  rights  of  the 
aggrieved.  There  is  not  a  member  of  the  Church, 
however  humble,  to  whom  the  doors  of  the  sanctuary 
of  public  justice  are  not  always  open. 

How   different  such  a  system   from   that  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  !     It  is  true  the   Church  of  Rome 
has  a  polity ;  but  it  was  framed  to  vindicate  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  Pope  over  the  priesthood,  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  priesthood  over  the  laity,  and  the 
supremacy  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  over  all  nations 
and  over  all  people.     It  was  framed  to  establish  a 
personal  or  arbitrary  authority  in  the  Pope,  by  the 
dogma  of  his  infallibility  ;  though,  when  convenient, 
he  may  cite  the  decisions  of  councils   and  papal  pre- 
cedents.    But   he   has  no  need  of  such   authority. 
The  polity  of  the  Church  of  Rome  was  framed  to 
establish  personal  or  arbitrary  authority  in  the  priest- 
hood over  the  people  ;  for  it  is  purely  such.     It  was 
framed  to  authorize  a  system  of  casuistry,  that  should 
sanction  two  opposite  decisions  of  the  same  question, 
because  the   authority  of  ona  priest  may  never  be 
adduced  to  invalidate  the  authority  of  another  ;  autho- 
rity, and  not  right,  being  the   thing  that  must  be 
maintained.     It  was  framed  to  sanction  a  hundred 
different  decisions  of  the  same  question,  if  a  hundred 
priests  could,  in  their  separate  action,  make  such  a 
diversity.     It  was  framed  to  authorize  every  species 


184  THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE 

of  crime,  immorality,  and  vice,  whenever  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  priesthood,  such  acts  shall  promote  the 
interests  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  It  was  framed  to 
create  a  unity  of  authority  and  of  action  in  the 
Church,  hy  forcing  virtue  and  vice,  obedience  to  God 
and  crime  against  God  and  man,  into  fellovrship  !  In 
a  word,  it  was  framed  to  confound  the  distinction  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  and  to  nullify  the  authority 
of  Christianity  in  morals  and  religion. 

And  how  different  the  polity  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  touching  authority  from  that  of 
the  Church  of  England.  We  speak  not  in  dero- 
gation of  the  Church  of  England  in  this  particu- 
lar ;  but  we  speak  of  fact.  The  genius  of  the  two 
Churches,  in  some  respects  alike,  is  in  others  widely 
diverse.  We  have  already  noticed  some  of  those 
diversities,  and  here  is  another.  The  Church  of 
England  is  mixed  up  with  the  State,  and  the  legisla- 
tion for  the  Church  is  done  in  Parliament.  It  may 
be  said,  for  aught  we  can  see,  that  the  Constitution 
of  the  Church  of  England  consists  in  those  acts  of 
Parliament  which  constitute  the  legislation  for  the 
.  Church,  as  the  Constitution  of  -the  British  Empire  is 
made  up  of  the  entire  series  of  parliamentary  legis- 
lation. There  is  no  other  tangible  Constitution  of 
the  Church  or  of  the  Empire.*  The  Convocation  of 
the  clergy,  which  once  occupied  the  position  of  an 
ecclesiastical  body,  claiming  the  right  to  deliberate 

*  Of  course,  the  ancient  constitutions  and  canons  of  the  Cluirch 
are  yet  of  some  use  and  force ;  but  tlie  modem  legislation  of  Par- 
liament has  ■well  nigh  superseded  them,  and  for  practical  purpo- 
Bes,  they  seem  to  be  next  to  obsolete. 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  185 

and  legislate  on  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  was  pro- 
hibited all  action  by  the  government  ages  ago,  and 
though  still  asking  leave,  has  not  yet  been  permit- 
ted to  sit  again  for  business.  The  authorities  of  the 
Church  proper,  cannot  make  an  alteration  or  amend- 
ment in  the  liturgy,  -without  an  order  from  the  sover- 
eign ;  nor  make  or  amend  canons  without  his  sanc- 
tion. The  last  commission  for  a  review  of  the  Eno-- 
lish  Book  of  Common  Prayer  was  issued  in  1689 ; 
"but,"  says  the  preface  to  the  American  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  "  this  great  and  good  work  miscar- 
ried at  that  time,  and  the  civil  authority,"  that  is, 
the  sovereign,  "  has  not  since  thought  proper  to 
revive  it  by  a  new  commission." 

The  authority  of  the  Church  of  England  is  so 
merged  in  that  of  the  State,  that  it  would  be  hard  to 
find  any  purely  ecclesiastical  authority,  in  vital 
action,  except  Episcopal,  which  is  a  department  of 
authority  by  itself,  and  would  hardly  be  ranked  as 
ecclesiastical  in  the  common  sense  of  the  term,  which, 
we  believe,  generally  implies  conventionalism,  or 
some  associated  action ;  whereas,  Episcopacy  is 
claimed  to  be  of  Divine  origin,  and  not  subject  to  the 
conventional  action  of  men  for  its  essential  attributes, 
though  it  may  be  and  is  regulated  by  such  action. 
The  polity  of  the  Church  of  England,  therefore,  in 
the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  such  as  it  is,  and  all 
there  is,  lies  back  of  1717,  when  the  Church  ceased 
to  act  as  a  Church,  and  since  which  she  has  never 
been  re-installed  in  that  position.  Her  actual  gov- 
erning polity  is  the  legislation  of  Parliament.  We 
can  nowhere  find  in  the  Church  of  England  a  like- 
16* 


186  THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE 

ness  to  the  polity  or  Constitution  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church.  The  two  Churches,  in  this  respect, 
are  utterly  dissimilar.  The  position  of  the  English 
Church  in  this  regard,  may  be,  and  probably  is,  sat- 
isfactory to  them ;  it  is  doubtless  adapted  to  the 
genius  of  the  government,  if  not  to  the  genius  of  the 
people.  Ours,  certainly,  and  we  think  fortunately, 
is  adapted  to  the  genius  of  the  American  people. 
That  consistent  chain  of  authority  which  binds  the 
American  Episcopal  Church  together,  and  secures 
the  rights  of  all  parties,  official  and  laical,  and  defines 
the  duties  of  all,  on  a  truly  republican  platform, 
illustrates  eminently  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  its 
authors  ;  and  we  hope  we  may  be  permitted  to  add, 
illustrates  also  the  wisdom  of  that  Providence  which 
superintended  and  ordered  it. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   GENIUS  OF  THE   AMERICAN  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  AS   ILLUSTRA- 
TED IN  HER  ATTACHMENT   TO  EPISCOPACY. 

There  is  something  in  tlie  claims  of  Episcopacy, 
doubtless,  -wliich  commands  the  respect  of  the  Chris- 
tian "world,  not  only  on  account  of  the  evidence  of 
its  having  been  established  by  the  Apostles,  and 
consequently  of  its  institution  by  Christ  himself, 
but  from  the  fact,  that  the  historical  evidence  sup- 
porting the  opposite  pretensions,  falls  within  the 
limit  of  about  three  centuries.  These  claims  are  in 
substance,  that  the  Apostles  instituted  two  orders  of 
ministration  in  the  Church,  under  themselves,  to  wit, 
presbyters  and  deacons,  for  a  permanent  arrange- 
ment, to  be  carried  out  in  their  own  day,  and  to  be 
handed  down  in  the  Church,  of  whom  they,  the 
Apostles,  were  superiors  and  principals ;  that  the 
Apostles  sent  forth  these  two  orders  to  minister  to 
the  Churches,  under  their  instructions;  that  the 
Apostles  constituted  the  first  order  of  the  Christian 
ministry,  presbyters  the  second,  and  deacons  the 
third ;  that  the  Apostles  appointed  successors  to 
themselves,  with  instructions  to  maintain  the  same 
system,  and  with  powers  to  continue  their  own  suc- 
cession by  a  similar  appointment,  with  similar  instruc- 
tions ;  that  the  successors  of  the  Apostles  were  gen- 
erally called  bishops  in  the  early  ages,  and  in  pro- 

(187) 


188  ATTACHMENT   OF  THE 

cess  of  time,  that  name  was  appropriated  to  them 
distinctively ;  that  these  bishops  were  endowed  by 
the  Apostles  with  plenary  powers  of  administration 
over  the  Churches,  and  over  the  other  two  orders  of 
the  ministry ;  that  this  was  the  primitive  system, 
established  by  the  Apostles,  and  made  obligatory  on 
the  Church  of  all  coming  ages ;  and  that  the  bishops 
have,  down  to  this  time,  occupied  the  place  of  the 
Apostles,  in  all  but  the  prerogatives  of  inspiration, 
and  the  power  of  working  miracles.*  This  is  called 
the  Apostolic  succession. 

The  evidence  seems  to  be  paramount,  that  this 
succession  has  never  been  interrupted,  except  in 
those  smaller  parts  of  the  Christian  commonwealth, 
in  modern  times,  where  it  is  not  regarded  as  oblig- 
atory, or  essential  to  a  valid  Christian  ministry.  The 
great  majority  of  Christendom,  in  all  ages,  has  held 
to  Episcopacy,  and  been  careful  to  maintain  a  regular 
and  uninterrupted  succession  of  bishops ;  and  wherever 
this  succession  could  not  be  satisfactorily  proved,  the 
mind  of  the  Church,  in  those  parts,  has  been  in  a 
disturbed  state  on  that  account.  The  theory  of 
Episcopacy,  that  is,  of  chiefs,  in  one  form  or  another, 
is  natural  to  every  state  of  society,  and  will  as  cer- 
tainly come  into  practice,  as  that  men  cannot  do 
without  leaders ;  and  the  only  question  is,  whether 


*  It  is  commonly  believed,  that  the  power  of  working  miracles 
did  not  cease  with  the  Apostles,  but  that  it  continued  for  ages, 
at  least  for  a  long  period  ;  and  it  appears  to  have  been  enjoyed 
by  the  fellow  laborers  of  the  Apostles.  It  was  never,  we  believe, 
regarded  as  an  exclusive  prerogative  of  the  Episcopate,  in  the 
age  of  miracles. 


AMERICAN   CHURCH  TO   EPISCOPACY.  189 

it  shall  be  regulated  or  unregulated,  canonical  or 
usurped.  It  is  precisely  that  system  \Yhich,  it  might 
be  presumed  the  inspired  Apostles  would  adopt  and 
appoint.  For  it  cannot  be  imagined  they  would 
leave  so  important  a  commonwealth  as  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ  without  an  authoritative  supervision, 
or  without  a  polity,  simple  though  it  was  in  the  be- 
ginning. Besides  their  natural  sagacity,  as  practical 
men,  they  were  endowed  with  special  gifts  of  wisdom 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  for  their  special  vocation ;  and 
Saint  Paul,  at  least,  was  a  man  fit  for  a  statesman 
in  any  age  or  nation,  by  his  superior  education. 

The  Apostles  knew,  by  Divine  inspiration,  that 
they  were  laying  the  foundation  for  a  spiritual  em- 
pire, for  all  nations,  and  for  all  time  ;  and  what  more 
simple  or  more  beneficent  than  an  Episcopal  system 
regulated,  since  men,  in  all  societies,  must  have 
something  of  the  kind  ?  Any  how,  that  is  almost 
universally  received  as  an  Apostolic  appointment, 
according  as  well  with  presumption  as  with  history ; 
and  if  this  system  cannot  be  settled  upon,  no  other 
can,  and  the  Church  is  doomed  to  fall  back  into 
anarchy,  or,  which  is  tantamount,  to  leave  every  one 
to  choose  for  himself.  Episcopacy,  however,  has  in 
fact  obtained  a  ruling  ascendency  in  the  mind  of  the 
universal  Church,  as  having  been  ordered  by  the 
Apostles,  and  cannot  easily  be  dislodged  from  that 
position.  They  who  reject  it,  are  always  more  or 
less  disquieted  with  the  thought,  that  they  may  be 
wrong  ;  whereas,  they  who  accept  it,  are  universally 
satisfied,  and  gradually  become  more  and  more  con- 


190  ATTACHMENT    OF   THE 

fivmcd  in  the  belief  that  they  are  right.    Both  history 
and  presumption  are  on  their  side. 

It  is  in  this  state  of  mind,  that  the  American 
Episcopal  Church  has  received  and  entertained  the 
doctrine  of  Episcopacy.  They  believe  in  it ;  they 
cherish  it ;  they  are  satisfied  with  it.  They  have 
no  fear  of  the  power  of  bishops,  because  they  khow 
they  live  under  a  constitutional  Church,  where  the 
bishop  is  as  much  bound  by  law  as  a  presbyter,  or 
deacon,  or  layman,  and  can  no  more  trespass  with 
impunity  on  the  rights  of  others.  They  have  seen 
and  appreciated  the  salutary  operation  of  the  system, 
in  all  its  aspects  and  bearings,  on  the  clergy,  on  the 
churches  and  congregations,  on  themselves  as  indi- 
viduals, on  their  families,  on  their  children.  They 
have  always  the  pastoral  care  of  their  own  clergy- 
man ;  and  an  Episcopal  visitation  is  a  festival,  spi- 
ritual and  social,  on  which  occasion,  besides  other 
Episcopal  benefits  highly  prized,  all  those  who  have 
been  carefully  trained  and  qualified  by  the  pastor, 
are  solemnly  inducted  by  the  office  of  confirmation 
into  full  communion  with  the  Church,  and  into  all  its 
privileges.  The  bishop  is  "  the  angel  of  the  Church," 
spoken  of  in  the  Apocalypse,  and  his  periodical  re- 
turns to  the  people  are  angel  visits.  If  he  is  a  good 
and  holy  man,  it  is  natural  that  the  people  should  so 
esteem  him.  His  necessarily  infrequent  calls  render 
them  all  the  more  precious,  when  their  benefit  is 
realized.  He  cannot  be  among  the  people  often, 
and  when  he  does  come,  he  leaves  a  blessing  behind 
him  that  is  highly  prized.  The  children  grow  up  to 
love  and   honor   him,  and  what   as    children   they 


AMERICAN   CHURCH   TO   EPISCOPACY.  191 

have  so  highly  esteemed,  will  not  be  effaced  from 
their  hearts  in  riper  years.  Episcopacy  is  a  system, 
•which  binds  society  together  by  the  holiest  ties,  from 
the  loTcest  to  the  highest  point.  The  child  looks  up 
to  the  man  of  God  with  reverence  and  affection,  and 
the  parent  who  loves  his  child,  loves  the  bishop  who 
lays  his  hands  upon  the  child,  and  blesses  it  in  the 
name  of  God.  Is  it  not  a  system  that  lifts  our  na- 
ture above  the  common  level,  and  dignifies  it  with 
aspirations  after  a  better  state  ? 

And  the  American  Episcopal  Church  is  attached 
to  her  Constitution  as  it  is,  touching  the  Episcopacy. 
She  knows  no  Primate  among  her  bishops.  There 
was  no  Primate  among  the  Apostles.  Kome  has  a 
Primate,  and  many  dignitaries  above  a  bishop.  Eng- 
land has  a  "Primate  of  all  England,"  in  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  a  "  Primate  of  Eng- 
land," in  the  Archbishop  of  York,  a  distinction 
apparently  without  a  difference.  But  there  were 
political  reasons  for  giving  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury a  preference.  But  the  Constitution  of  the 
American  Church  is  a  fixed  levellei%  and  determines 
for  all  time  the  equality  of  her  bishops.  Netting 
would  be  more  startling  than  the  idea  of  an  arch- 
bishop, or  of  an  archdeacon  in  the  American  Church. 
Was  not  the  genius  of  the  American  people  consulted 
in  this,  as  in  the  general  economy  of  the  Church  ? 
And  was  it  not  right,  expedient  to  do  so  ?  Some, 
we  know,  scout  the  doctrine  of  expediency ;  that  is — 
for  what  is  the  difference  ? — they  denounce  prudence. 
Did  not  Saint  Paul,  in  bccominf;:  "  all  thinics  to  all 
men,"  give  some  sanction  to  expediency,  in  other 


192  ATTACHMENT   OF   THE 

words,  to  prudence  ?  Prudence,  we  think,  was  one 
of  the  leading  virtues  that  came  down  from  heaven, 
if  all  virtues  came  from  thence ;  and  if  the  fii'st  rebel 
in  heaven  had  been  prudent,  he  never  would  have 
rebelled. 

It  is  the  republican  character  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  above  all  things,  that  qualifies  her 
for  her  lofty  mission  in  this  new  world ;  and  the 
members  of  that  Church,  oiEcial  and  laical,  are  none 
the  less,  but  all  the  more  attached  to  her  on  that 
account.  Attached  to  the  principle  of  republicanism 
in  the  State,  they  see  in  its  introduction  into  the 
Church,  and  in  its  controlling  influence  there,  a 
guaranty  for  the  rights  of  all. 

In  no  part  of  Christendom  docs  Episcopacy  occupy 
the  same  position  as  in  the  United  States,  nor  even 
a  similar  one,  so  far  as  we  can  see.  Episcopacy,  as 
a  Divine  institution,  can  never  be  modified  by  the 
hand  of  man ;  but  the  position  it  may  occupy,  in  a 
Church  polity,  may  be  diversified  indefinitely.  In 
the  American  Episcopal  Church,  it  was  originally 
adjusted  in  a  manner,  which  could  hardly  be  im- 
proved, in  adaptation  to  the  genius  and  institutions 
of  the  country ;  and  the  bishops,  we  believe,  have 
never  complained  of  it.  Why  should  they  ?  They 
came  in  with  it  and  under  it,  and  owe  all  their  con- 
sequence to  this  polity.  It  touches  not  their  proper 
Episcopal  prerogatives,  and  never  can.  These  pre- 
rogatives stand  aloof  from  all  contact  with  human 
institutions,  and  must  forever  remain  so,  as  a  pure 
Divine  institution.  But  a  bishop,  as  a  member  of  a 
commonwealth,  spiritual  or  civil,  must  take  his  place 


AMERICAN   CHURCH   TO    EPISCOPACY.  193 

in  it,  as  determined  by  the  polity  that  framed  it. 
He  has  no  sovereign  right  there,  that  is  not  conferred 
on  every  other  member,  to  wit,  the  right  of  voice  in 
his  place,  under  the  canons,  if  it  be  in  the  Church. 
"While,  therefore,  his  Episcopal  prerogatives,  as  de- 
rived from  the  Head  of  the  Church,  remain  intact, 
he  is  as  much  a  subject  of  law  as  any  other  member 
of  the  Church.  It  is  the  beauty  and  harmony  of  the 
system  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  with  an 
inviolate  Episcopacy  over  her,  both  acting  recipro- 
cally on  each  other,  in  execution  of  the  original 
purpose  of  the  two  institutions ;  it  is  this,  we  think, 
which  has  contributed  not  a  little  to  create  that 
attachment  which  the  Church  feels  and  cherishes 
towards  the  Episcopate.  All  in  the  Church  concede 
the  Divine  authority  of  a  valid  Episcopacy,  such  as 
the  American  is  proved  to  be ;  and  none  in  the 
Chui'ch  can  fail  to  see  how  harmoniously  such  an 
institution  can  blend  with  a  human  polity,  such  as 
that  of  the  American  Church.  He  who  ordained 
Episcopacy  for  the  Church,  foresaw  that  it  must  for- 
ever have  similar  relations  to  human  polities,  and 
with  infinite  wisdom  charged  it  precisely  with  those 
attributes  and  prerogatives,  which  would  forever  be 
consistent  with  those  relations,  however  diversified 
they  might  be. 

"  Long  and  earnest  examination  has  rooted  the 
belief  in  my  mind,"  says  Mr.  Hofiman,  "that,  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  we  have  the  nearest 
approach  that  the  world  can  present,  to  the  Church 
which  the  Saviour  authorized  his  Apostles  to  estab- 
lish.    As  I  believe  that  all  hope  of  the  preservation 

17 


194  ATTACHMENT   TO    EPISCOPACY. 

of  our  unrivalled  civil  institutions  rests  upon  the 
prevalence  of  Cliristianitj,  so  do  I  believe  that  the 
more  the  people  are  anchored  in  the  doctrines  and 
principles  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  the  more  surely 
Tvill  those  institutions  abide  every  assault  they  must 
encounter.  The  exposition  of  her  laws  may  assist  in 
the  promotion  of  that  respect  and  a^ve  which  her 
tenets  command,  just  in  proportion  as  they  are 
studied.  Her  cautious  spirit,  her  firm  yet  -well  tem- 
pered discipline,  her  strong  foundations  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  her  stately  columns  strengthened  by  all 
historic  evidence  and  primitive  action,  the  beautiful 
chastity  of  her  garments  of  worship  as  she  approaches 
the  Father  of  spirits,  and  that  most  exquisite  union 
of  Gospel  Truth  and  devotional  fervor — the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer — all  combine  to  supply  every  thing 
that  a  pure  imagination,  an  earnest  piety,  and  an 
enlightened  intellect,  can  crave  or  desire.  Let  but 
the  spirit  of  forbearance  and  toleration  move  among 
ourselves,  let  us  but  uphold  her  doctrines  with  firm- 
ness and  charity,  let  her  holiness  be  exemplified  in 
our  lives,  and  the  mind  of  the  country  will  give  way 
to  her  claims,  will  imbibe  her  truth,  and  will  spread 
her  influence  from  the  rale  to  the  hill  top,  until  the 
whole  land  rejoices  in  her  presence." — Hoffman  on 
the  Law  of  the  Qhurch,  pp.  84  &  85. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE    GENIUS   OF    THE     AMERICAN    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH   AS   ILLUS- 
TRATED   IN    HER    ATTACHMENT    TO    LITURGICAL    SERVICES. 

Like  Church  polities,  liturgies  have  been  the 
result  of  time  and  circumstance.  It  cannot  be  pre- 
tended, that  liturgical  services  were  in  use,  to  any 
considerable  extent,  when  the  Christian  church  com- 
menced its  career  under  the  Apostles.  Nor  is  this 
a  good  reason,  as  some  suppose,  why  they  should  not 
be  adopted.  There  must  be  a  beginning  to  all  insti- 
tutions, and  to  all  societies,  which  are  to  exist  and  to 
be  extended  on  a  grand  scale  ;  and  that  beginning  is 
necessarily  small  and  simple.  The  commencement 
and  nucleus  of  a  Christian  liturgy  was  given  by 
Christ  himself  :  "  When  ye  pray,  say.  Our  Father 
which  art  in  heaven,"  which  has  been  universally  re- 
spected by  all  Christian  people,  though  there  are 
some,  who  being  averse  to  liturgies,  seldom  repeat  it 
correctly,  or  Avho  purposely  make  variations,  as  if 
they  could  improve  it. 

The  Apostles  had  all  been  brought  up  under  the  litur- 
gical services  of  the  Jewish  rites,  and  were  perfectly 
aware,  that  their  Master  attended  on  them,  conformed 
to  them,  and  gave  them  his  sanction.  Although  our 
Saviour  rebuked  the  corruptions  of  the  temple  service, 
it  was  only  for  reform,  and  to  restore  its  purity.  In 
setting  up  the  Christian  commonwealth,  nothing  was 

(195) 


196  ATTACHMENT   OF   THE 

more  natural  than,  that  the  Apostles  should  substitute, 
as  soon  as  practicable,  Christian  modes  and  forms  of 
worship,  in  the  place  of  Jewish.  That  thej  did  very 
soon  establish  liturgical  services  to  some  extent,  and 
a  church  polity,  is  evident,  not  only  from  the  neces- 
sity of  the  case,  but  from  incidental  allusions  of  the 
inspired  word  :  "  The  rest  will  I  set  in  order,  when 
I  come."  (1  Cor.  xi.  33.)  "Let  all  things  be  done 
decently  and  in  order."  (1  Cor.  xiv.  40.)  "  For  this 
cause  left  I  thee  in  Crete,  that  thou  shouldest  set  in 
order  the  things  that  are  wanting."  (Titus,  i.  5.) 
"  God  be  thanked,  that  ye  have  obeyed  from  the 
heart  that  form  of  doctrine,  which  was  delivered  unto 
you."  (Rom.  vi.  17.)  "  If  the  trumpet  shall  give 
an  uncertain  sound,  who  shall  prepare  himself  for  the 
battle  ?"  (1  Cor.  xiv.  8.)  "  Hold  fast  the  form  of 
sound  words."  (2  Tim.  i.  13.)  "A  bishop  must  be 
blameless,  &c.  .  .  .  holding  fast  the  faithful  word, 
as  he  has  been  taught,  that  he  may  be  able  by  sound 
doctrine,  both  to  exhort  and  to  convince  the  gain- 
sayers."  (Titus  i.  7-9.)  "  In  doctrine  showing 
uncorruptness,  .  .  .  sound  speech  that  cannot  be 
condemned."  (Titus  ii.  7,  8.)  It  was  a  steady  aim 
and  the  great  labor  of  the  Apostles  to  establish  in 
all  the  churches  planted  by  their  hands,  uniformity 
of  order,  and  uniformity  of  doctrine,  the  first  of 
which  could  not  be  done  without  a  polity,  nor  tlie 
latter  without  a  liturgy,  or  what  was  tantamount.  It 
cannot  be  supposed,  that  the  primitive  Church  was 
left  by  the  Apostles,  without  a  carefully  established 
polity,  and  a  "form  of  sound  words,"  that  should 
constitute  patterns  of  worship,  as  well  as  standards 


AMERICAN   CHURCH   TO   A   LITURGY.  197 

of  faitli;  else,  the  whole  Church,  from  the  very  char- 
acter of  the  times,  would  have  fallen  into  anarchy 
and  confusion.  How  earnestly  did  St.  Paul  rebuke  the 
Corinthian  Church  for  having  disobeyed  his  orders  of 
discipline  and  of  faith  ?  "  How  is  it,  then,  brethren  ? 
When  ye  come  together,  every  one  of  you  hath  a 
psalm,  hath  a  doctrine,  hath  a  tongue,  hath  a  reve- 
lation, hath  an  interpretation.  Let  all  things  be 
done  unto  edifying."  (1  Cor.  xiv.  26.)  How  could 
the  Church  be  edified,  in  such  a  state  of  disorder  and 
confusion  ? 

But  as  a  special  Divine  inspiration  ceased  from 
the  Church,  and  as  time  advanced,  the  necessity  of  a 
Church  polity,  of  uniformity  in  faith,  and  in  modes 
of  worship,  became  more  and  more  imperative ;  and 
it  was  in  consequence  of  a  departure  from  the  discip- 
line and  faith,  as  ordered  and  published  by  the 
Apostles,  and  in  consequence  of  the  liberties  assumed 
by  leading  and  influential  minds,  to  introduce  novel- 
ties in  religious  philosophy,  in  faith,  in  Church  order, 
and  in  modes  of  worship,  that,  in  after  ages,  great 
and  fundamental  errors  crept  into  the  Church,  wliich 
laid  the  foundation  for  the  great  and  notable  perver- 
sions of  the  Church  of  Rome,  from  the  disastrous 
effects  of  which  the  Christian  Church  has  never  yet 
recovered.  Since  the  Reformation,  however,  great 
progress  has  been  made  in  a  return  to  the  primitive 
faith,  and  to  primitive  practices  ;  and  there  is  suffi- 
cient evidence,  which  we  have  already  had  occasion  to 
notice  in  this  work,  that  nothing  contributes  so  much 
to  hold  the  Reformed  Churches  fast  to  the  Rock  of 
Ages,  as  their  established  forms  of  faith  and  worship. 
17* 


198  ATTACHMENT   OF  THE 

The  Cliurch  of  England,  amidst  all  her  agitations  and 
convulsions,  has  been  held,  and  is  still  held  firm  in 
the  faith,  and  uniform  in  her  worship,  by  her  Book 
of  Common  Prayer.  Who  can  imagine  "where  she 
would  have  been,  by  this  time,  without  it  ?  With  all 
the  diversity  of  opinion,  manifested  within  her  pale 
— and  it  has  not  been  small — as  to  doctrine,  faith, 
order,  discipline,  and  worship,  in  every  trial  she  has 
been  brought  back  to  her  standard,  the  Prayer  Book, 
as  the  umpire  of  all  religious  questions.  It  is  ad- 
mitted it  might  be  improved,  but  the  fit  time  seems 
not  to  have  arrived.  There  is  a  scrupulous  fear  of 
impairing  by  touching  it,  and  this  conscientiousness, 
certainly,  is  worthy  of  great  respect ;  it  may,  finally, 
prove  of  the  greatest  consequence,  in  the  shape  of  a 
salutary  caution. 

And  where  and  what  would  the  American  Episco- 
pal Church  have  been,  without  her  Book  of  Common 
Prayer?  "Thanks  to  that  Church,"  the  Christian 
world  around  and  without  her  pale,  are  beginning  to 
say,  for  holding  us  all  fast  in  the  faith  by  the  preva- 
lent influence  of  her  standard.  The  agitations  and 
convulsions  of  the  religious  world,  in  the  United 
States,  have,  within  the  period  of  half  a  century, 
shaken  the  firmest  religious  polities  to  their  founda- 
tions, and  threatened  to  overthrow  the  fnith  handed 
down,  for  the  want  of  adequate  standards  ;  and  above 
all,  apparently,  for  the  want  of  a  common  liturgy, 
which,  in  every  assembling  of  the  people  for  public 
worship,  would  bring  them  to  the  use  of  the  same 
words  and  forms,  and  consequently  to  the  keeping 
of  the  same  faith.     If  an  American  Churchman  is 


AMERICAN   CHURCH   TO   A   LITURGY.  199 

asked,  what  is  your  faith  ?  He  points  to  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  and  never  thinks  of  departing 
from  that.  He  may  not  fully  understand  it,  but  he 
has  respect  for  the  authority  which  published  it,  and 
for  that  which  maintains  it.  He  sees  the  salutary 
effects  which  it  produces,  in  promoting  harmony  of ' 
opinion,  in  instructing  and  edifying  the  people,  and 
in  affording  a  common  platform,  a  rallying  centre, 
for  the  doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline  of  a  great 
Christian  commonwealth— a  platform,  which  is  the' 
same  in  California  as  in  the  State  of  Maine,  and 
which  binds  together  the  bishops,  the  clergy,  and 
people  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  as  one 
great  brotherhood  of  the  Christian  family,  who, 
whenever  and  wherever  they  are  assembled,  for  wor- 
ship, are  necessarily  in  perfect  accord,  in  the  use 
of  a  common  liturgy,   and  of  a   common  form   of 

faith. 

And  it  is  not  only  an  instructive  standard,  com- 
prehending the  broad  field  of  Christian  doctrine,  and 
prescribing  lessons  of  Holy  Scripture  for  every  day 
in  the  year,  so  as  to  embrace  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
sacred  volume ;  but  it  is  edifying  to  every  penitent 
and  believing  soul.  All  he  wants,  in  any  exigency 
of  his  spiritual  condition,  is  there.  From  that  source, 
as  a  means  of  instruction,  he  can  supply  all  his 
needs,  and  through  that  medium  he  can  commune- 
with  saints  on  earth  and  saints  in  heaven,  with  his 
God,  and  with  his  Saviour.  Aided  by  forms,  well 
considered  and  well  arranged  by  the  united  wisdom 
and  piety  of  the  Church  of  all  ages,  he  has  no  task 
of  mind  in  the  use  of  them ;  but  may  give  himself 


200  ATTACHMENT   OF   THE 

up  to  the  lessons  of  instruction,  and  to  the  current 
of  devotion  and  Avorship,  which  it  opens  before  him. 
Who  Avill  pretend,  that  any  man  can  invent  extempora- 
neously such  a  rich  treasury  of  doctrine  and  of  devo- 
tion ?    Who  -will  pretend,  that  extemporaneous  modes 
of  worship  are  not  liable  to  crude  thoughts,  and  often 
to  extravagant  vagaries,  leading  to  pernicious  doc- 
trines ?     Moreover,  what  is  commonly  called  extempo- 
raneous performance  in  worship,  is  itself,  for  the  most 
part,  mere  form,  as  the  necessary  result  of  mechanical 
habits  of  mind  in  every  person.     Who  ever  listened 
to  such  performances  for  many  times,  without  ob- 
serving  this  fact  ?      And    that   which   is    properly 
extemporaneous,  is  apt  to  be  the  poorest   and  most 
unedifying  part,  which,  possibly,  may  excite  some 
attention,  but  little  devotion,  simply  because  it  is  a 
surprise,  and  brings  the  mind  to  a  pause,  to  think 
what  it  is.     In  religion,  as  in  every  thing  else,  we 
are  creatures  of  habit ;  and  to  be  edified  in  worship, 
we   must   not    be   carried   away   from    accustomed 
thoughts.     The  moment  that  is  done,  we  are  forced 
to  begin  to  study,  instead  of  being  left  to  float  along 
on  a  tide  of  devotion,  on  which  the  spirit  of  the  wor- 
shipper may  have  been  launched  by  the  animating 
effect  of  the  public  offices  of  religion. 

The  benefit  of  a  liturgy  is  best  appreciated  by 
those  who  have  tried  both  Avays.  Rarely,  if  ever,  do 
persons  go  back  to  what  are  called  extemporaneous 
performances  in  public  worship — which  really  are 
not  so — when  once  they  have  become  accustomed  to 
the  use  of  a  liturgy ;  and  seldom,  if  ever,  do  persons 
who  have  known  no  other  than  liturgical  services. 


AMERICAN   CHURCH    TO   A   LITURGY.  201 

turn  their  backs  upon  them,  for  the  adoption  of  ex- 
temporaneous modes.  They  who  chauge,  go  chiefly 
one  way :  they  incline  to  a  liturgy. 

We  are  aAvare  it  is  said  by  those  who  reject  forms, 
that  this  preference  is  owing  to  the  absence  of  vital 
religion,  and  that  they  sometimes  think  it  a  suflScient 
vindication  of  their  own  way,  to  stigmatize  those  who 
use  a  liturgy  in  public  worship,  as  mere  formalists. 
This,  certainly,  is  not  a  very  charitable,  nor  a  very 
amiable  mode  of  argument.  Indeed,  it  cuts  all  ar- 
gument short,  by  a  dogmatical  decision.  It  has 
already  been  suggested,  that  what  are  called  extem- 
poraneous modes  of  conducting  public  worship,  are, 
after  all,  mere  forms.  It  is  impossible,  that  an 
observing  person  should  have  attended  habitually  on 
the  services  of  these  extemporizers,  no  matter  how 
superior  and  talented  they  may  be,  without  having 
been  struck  with  the  uniformity  of  modes  of  expres- 
sion and  of  topics,  which  characterize  their  devo- 
tional exercises ;  and  they  always  fall  far  short  of 
the  richness  and  scope  of  a  well-indited  liturgy.  But 
where  there  is  one  who  does  well  in  these  pretended 
extemporaneous  performances,  there  are  many  who 
do  badly  in  them.  We  often  hear  what  arc  called 
prayers,  which,  for  a  great  part,  are  any  thing  but 
prayer.  We  have  heard  eminent  ministers  of  religion 
occupy  much  time  in  giving  the  Deity  information 
as  a  ground  of  his  petitions ;  and  we  have  heard 
others .  deliver  a  sort  of  oration,  or  a  dissertation  on 
sundry  themes,  for  a  prayer.  We  certainly  know  of 
one  of  the  weaker  brethren,  who,  after  his  place  of 
worship  had  been  struck  by  lightning,  in  the  midst 


202  ATTACHMENT   OF   THE 

of  his  sermon,  and  killed  one  of  his  congregation, 
was  requested  to  improve  the  occasion  by  prayer,  in 
which  he  pursued  his  wonted  track,  and  never  even 
alluded  to  the  sad  event ! 

It  is  sufficient  to  observe,  that  the  question  in- 
volved, is  a  choice  between  forms,  and  not  between 
forms  and  no  forms.  It  is  whether  we  will  have  well- 
devised,  well-considered,  and  copious  forms  of  devo- 
tion, embracing  all  the  wants  of  humanity,  temporal 
and  spiritual,  expressed  in  unexceptionable  terms, 
adapted  to  the  capacities  of  all,  and  offending  the 
taste  of  none;  or  whether  we  shall  have  other  forms, 
called  extemporaneous,  but  always  very  limited  in 
their  scope,  often  crude  and  offensive,  and  sometimes 
shocking  to  cultivated  minds.  To  escape  from  forms, 
is  impossible.  Shall  we  have  good  or  bad  forms  ? 
That  is  the  question. 

But  we  maintain,  that  a  liturgy  is  favorable  to  the 
vitality  of  religion,  the  want  of  which  is  alleged 
against  it ;  and  more  so  than  other  modes.  The 
vitality  may  not  be  quite  so  obvious  to  those  who 
think  there  can  be  no  religion  where  there  is  no 
noise,  no  outbreak,  no  public  bursts  of  feeling.  De- 
monstrations of  this  sort,  we  think,  are  more  matters 
of  taste,  than  proofs  of  religion.  Whether  personal 
religion  shall  obtrude  itself  on  the  public,  or  be 
content  in  communing  with  God,  is,  we  think,  in 
both  cases,  very  much  a  matter  of  taste,  except, 
indeed,  we  seem  to  have  something  like  a  precept  on 
the  subject :  "  When  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy 
closet."  There  is  an  obtrusive,  and  there  is  an  in- 
obtrusive  religion — ;a  religion   that  seeks  publicity, 


AMERICAN   CnURCU   TO   A    LITURGY.  203 

and  a  religion  that  avoids  it.  The  latter  will  naturally 
have  a  deeper,  though  more  quiet  current  in  the 
soul. 

Aversion  to  excitement  is  a  part  of  the  genius  of 
the  American  Episcopal  Church.  She  prefers  the 
even  tenor  of  religious  life,  public  and  private.  Her 
members  do  not  only  resort  to  the  public  offices 
of  religion,  to  be  instructed  from  the  pulpit,  but  to 
be  edified  by  the  Book  which  they  carry  in  their 
hands,  which  is  publicly  used  there,  and  the  rich 
treasures  of  which  can  never  be  exhausted.  That  is 
their  manual  of  doctrine  and  of  devotion,  in  connex- 
ion with  the  inspired  volume,  the  greater  part  of 
which  is  there  also  in  the  daily  lessons.  They  find 
enough  to  occupy  them  there.  Their  religion  is 
inobtrusive,  but  not  the  less  vital.  It  is  all  the  more 
vital  on  that  account.  They  find  by  experience,  that 
a  liturgy,  in  the  public  worship  of  the  Church,  pro- 
tects them  from  all  the  distractions  of  extemporane- 
ous incoherencies,  and  that  it  is  always  instructive, 
and  always  edifying,  where  the  religious  appetite  may 
be  fully  satisfied,  and  never  led  astray.  Hence  their 
attachment  to  it,  which  never  diminishes,  but  is 
always  on  the  increase.  They  rarely  leave  it  for 
extemporaneous  modes  of  worship ;  whereas  the 
largest  growth  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church 
consists  of  her  constant  accessions  from  that  quai'ter, 
which,  to  say  the  least,  is  a  strong  presumptive  evi- 
dence in  favor  of  a  liturgy. 

The  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  American  Epis- 
copal Church,  as  practised  from  her  origin  hitherto, 
■were  designed,  as  in  all  cases  forms  and  ceremonies 


204  ATTACHMENT   OF   THE 

sliould  be,  to  be  aids  of  devotion,  and  to  jiromote  the 
vitality  of  religion.  Indeed,  the  onlj  vindication  of 
set  forms  and  prescribed  ceremonies  in  the  Church, 
is,  that  they  assist  vital  religion,  and  contribute  to 
its  growth ;  and  it  is  easy  to  show,  that  such  is  their 
effect,  so  long  as  they  are  not  carried  so  far,  as  neces- 
sarily to  become  a  study  and  an  art,  and  to  occupy 
the  chief  attention  both  of  the  performers  and  wor- 
shippers, as  is  the  unavoidable  effect  of  the  histrionic 
arts  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  In  the  latter  case, 
form  and  ceremony  are  a  substitute  for  religion,  in- 
stead of  being  employed  as  the  means  of  exciting 
and  promoting  it  in  the  soul.  We  admit,  that  a  cer- 
emonial will  degenerate  into  formalism,  where  it  is 
used  and  practised  as  an  art,  or  where  it  requires  all 
the  attention  of  an  art,  to  go  through  it  properly, 
and  to  follow  it  up  by  those  who  attend  upon  it.  In 
such  a  case,  the  very  object  of  form  and  ceremony 
is  prevented  and  superseded,  by  their  own  neces- 
sary effect.  AYas  such  the  purpose  of  the  ritual  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church  ?  No,  we  think  not ; 
no,  every  true  American  Churchman  will  respond. 
The  forms  and  ceremonies  of  our  Church  were  never 
introduced  as  an  art.  God  forbid.  But  they  were 
designed  to  promote  the  interests  of  vital  religion  in 
the  soul,  and  such,  rightly  used,  is  their  effect ;  and  it 
is  believed  that  they  are  the  best  means  of  promoting 
true  religion,  because  they  regulate  devotion,  and 
guide  the  thoughts  to  God  and  Heaven,  without 
study  and  without  effort.  It  is  this  effect  which 
demonstrates  the  perfection  of  a  Christian  ritual. 
Man,  in  all  spiritual  matters,  is  a  sluggish  being,  is 


AMERICAN   CnURCn   TO    A    LITURGY.  205 

ever  disposed  to  be  erratic  in  bis  thougbts,  and  to 
imbibe  error,  when  error  is  offered.  Hence  be  re- 
quires tbe  guidance  and  assistance  of  a  well  appointed 
liturgy,  and  of  "svell  ordered  offices  of  religion,  such 
as  tbe  American  Episcopal  Cburch  bas  provided. 

We  desire  here  to  say  a  word  on  wbat  we  bave 
often  tbougbt  of,  and  wbicb,  we  tbink,  is  Avortby  of 
more  attention  in  our  tbeologieal  seminaries,  and  by 
tbe  clergy  generally,  tban  is  usually  given  to  it,  viz. : 
the  manner  of  performing  the  appointed  services  of 
the  Church.  The  service  itself,  as  all  who  are 
acquainted  with  it  admit,  is  one  of  great  perfection, 
notwithstanding  it  might  still  be  improved.  It  can- 
not, however,  but  be  seen,  that  its  effect  upon  the 
public  mind,  and  upon  the  minds  of  individuals,  must 
depend  very  much  upon  tbe  manner  of.  its  perform- 
ance. To  be  a  good  reader  of  the  service,  is  com- 
monly tbougbt  to  be  a  high  attainment;  and  we  shall 
not  deny  it.  But  to  be  a  good  prayer  of  tbe  prayers 
we  also  think,  is  a  matter  of  no  small  importance. 
The  service  is  a  fixed  one,  and  no  study  bestowed 
upon  it,  to  produce  its  proper  effect,  can  ever  be  lost. 
To  give  tbe  full  and  intended  expression  to  every 
part  of  it,  by  an  appropriate  elocution,  and  by  vary- 
ing the  tones  of  voice  and  manner  of  enunciation,  as 
tbe  sentiment  or  subject  suggests  and  naturally 
requires,  is  worthy  of  a  life  of  devoted  study.  Who 
will  not  agree  that  tbe  prayers  should  be  prayed; 
and  prayed  devoutly  and  earnestly  ?  And  are  they 
not  sometimes  badly  read  ?  Ought  they  ever  to  be 
read,  as  if  it  were  mere  reading  ?  Tbe  tones  and 
manner  of  prayer  arc  not  naturally  those  of  reading. 

18 


206  ATTACHMENT    OF   TUE 

There  is,  undoubtedly,  a  great  difference,  in  the  nat- 
ural mode  of  elocution,  between  the  two  things. 
Why,  then,  should  not  this  difference  be  studied  and 
executed  properly  ?  If  the  clergyman  should  commit 
the  morning  and  evening  prayers  to  memory,  and  the 
communion  office,  and  burial  service,  and  other  parts 
most  commonly  used,  so  that  he  could  throw  his 
■whole  soul  into  the  parts,  as  he  goes  along,  without 
being  embarrassed  with  the  mechanical  habit  of  cast- 
ing his  eyes  upon  the  page  to  collect  the  sentences, 
or  parts  of  sentences,  would  it  not  give  him  a  great 
advantage  for  the  best  effect  on  the  worshippers,  in 
the  use  of  the  service  ?  And  should  he  not  so  study 
the  whole  service,  and  become  so  familiar  with  it, 
that  ho  could  not  fail  to  give  the  proper  tone  and 
expression  to  every  part  ?  The  reading  of  the  les- 
sons, too,  is  a  part  of  the  service,  which  ought  to  have 
very  special  attention.  The  Bible  may  be  read  so  as 
to  produce  very  little  effect,  merely  for  defects  of 
elocution  ;  and  it  may  be  read  so  as  to  enforce  and 
enchain  the  attention  of  hearers,  that  each  one  shall 
feel,  as  if  it  was  all  to  and  for  himself.  Is  not  the 
latter  effect  desirable,  and  the  means  of  it  worthy  of 
cultivation  1  There  is,  doubtless,  room  enough  for 
improvement  in  the  j^^^'^'formcmce  of  the  services  of 
the  Church,  to  give  them  an  entire  new  character,  in 
the  use  of  precisely  the  same  parts,  and  the  same 
words ;  an  improvement  worthy  of  the  attention  of 
every  clergyman,  but  more  especially  of  candidates  for 
orders.  It  is  not  the  increase  of  ceremony  that  is 
wanted ;  but  the  right  and  best  use  of  services  already 
appointed,  and  long  in  practice.    Here  is  a  field  that 


AMERICAN   CHURCH   TO   A   LITURGY.  207 

can  never  be  exhausted.  No  clergyman  could  ever 
arrive  at  a  degree  of  perfection  in  this  study,  "where  im- 
provement would  not  still  be  open  before  him.  It  is 
a  matter  of  sufficient  importance,  we  think,  for  a  sep- 
arate professorship  in  a  theological  seminary.  For 
it  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  efiect  of  the  appointed 
services  of  the  Church  must  depend  on  the  manner 
of  performing  them,  and  consequently,  that  teaching 
and  learning  in  this  department  of  study,  are  of  the 
greatest  importance.  In  the  Church  of  Rome,  which 
depends  chiefly  on  ceremony  and  histrionic  exhibi- 
tions, a  sing-song  performance  of  the  service  appoin- 
ted to  be  read  in  an  unknown  tongue,  may  answer 
their  purpose ;  but  not  so  in  a  service  appointed  for 
instruction  and  devotion,  and  which  occupies  so  im- 
portant a  place  in  the  public  offices  of  religion,  as 
docs  the  liturgy  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church. 
Nor  should  it  be  forgotten,  thsit  j^reaching  occupies 
a  pre-eminent  position  in  the  appointed  offices  of  the 
Church.  There  is  danger,  perhaps,  at  a  time  when 
a  disposition  to  make  much  of  ceremony  prevails, 
that  preaching  should  be  thrown  into  the  back 
ground,  and  deemed  of  small  comparative  impor- 
tance. This,  we  think,  would  be  a  very  unfortunate 
result.  Preaching  was  the  original  function  of  the 
Apostles.  When  first  they  rose  up  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  there  was  no  liturgy ;  no  established  Chris- 
tian rites ;  no  Church,  except  in  the  family  of  twelve 
men,  as  first  constituted  by  Christ  himself.  Their 
preaching  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  so  far  as  appears, 
was  the  first  and  only  service  of  the  Church ;  and 
the  first  fruit  of  that  day's  service,  by  the  descent 


208  PREACHING. 

of  the  Holy  Ghost,  was  "  about  three  thousand" 
converts,  who  were  the  same  day  received  into  the 
church,  and  made  members  thereof,  by  baptism. 
"And  the  Lord  added  to  the  Church  daily,"  by  the 
same  instrumentality.  The  Christian  Church  was 
founded  and  spread  over  the  "svorld  by  preaching. 
From  that  time  to  this,  preaching  has  ever  been  a 
prominent  and  leading  office  of  the  Christian  minis- 
try. It  is  first  and  highest.  It  preceded  all  other 
offices,  and  is  ever  the  LIVING  oracle.  The  preacher 
is  the  organ  of  Divine  truth  to  men's  minds  and 
hearts.  He  is  the  priest  between  God  and  man. 
He  brings  the  message  of  peace  and  reconciliation ; 
propounds  it ;  explains  the  record ;  calls  the  sinner 
to  repentance,  and  instructs  and  guides  the  saint  on 
liis  way  to  heaven.  As  the  Spirit  of  God  honored 
the  first  preaching  of  the  Apostles,  to  make  and  mul- 
tiply disciples,  so  does  he  ever  employ  the  same 
agency  for  the  same  object.  All  other  rites  and 
usages  of  the  Church  were  subsequent  to  this,  and 
grew  out  of  it.  All  others  were  ordained  to  make 
this  effective. 

"  There  stands  the  messenger  of  truth  ;  there  stands 
The  legate  of  the  skies.     His  theme  divine  ; 
His  office  sacred ;  his  credentials  clear. 
By  him  the  violated  law  speaks  out 
Its  thunders ;  and  by  him,  in  strains  as  sweet 
As  angels  use,  the  Gospel  whispers  peace  " 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  GEXIUS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  AS  EXEM 
PLIFIED  IX  HER  SPIRIT  OF  ACCOMMODATION'  TO  THE  GEXIUS 
OF    THE    AMERICAN    PEOPLE. 

We  have  the  highest  authority  for  accommodation 
in  all  things  non-essential,  "  for  the  Gospel's  sake." 
"  Though  I  be  free  from  all  men,  yet  have  I  made 
myself  servant  unto  all,  that  I  might  gain  the  more : 
Unto  the  Jews,  I  became  as  a  Jew,  that  I  might  gain 
the  Jews ;  to  them  that  are  under  the  law,  as  under 
the  law,  that  I  might  gain  them  that  are  under 
the  law ;  to  them  that  are  without  law,  as  without 
law,  (being  not  without  law  to  God,  but  under  the 
law  to  Christ),  that  I  might  gain  them  that  are  with- 
out law.  To  the  weak  became  I  as  weak,  that  I 
might  gain  the  weak.  I  am  made  all  things  to  all 
men,  that  I  might  by  all  means  save  some.  And 
this  I  do  for  the  CrospeVs  sake."  (1  Cor.  ix.  19 — 23.) 
This,  certainly,  is  an  accommodation  sufficiently 
broad  for  all  purposes,  and  an  authority  sufficiently 
high  to  command  respect. 

We  have  seen  in  the  history  of  the  organization 
of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  her  evident  pur- 
pose to  accommodate  her  polity  to  the  genius  of  the 
American  people;  and  we  have  also  seen,  that  the 
practical  operation  of  that  polity  hitherto,  has  fully 
sustained  that  purpose.  If  it  should  be  said,  that 
18*  (209) 


210  ACCOMMODATION   OF   THE   CHURCH 

all  this  was  partly  accidental,  it  cannot  be  maintained 
that  it  was  entirely  so  ;  and  even  as  a  comprehensive 
accident  of  history,  growing  out  of  forcing  circum- 
stances, it  is  equally  instructive  to  the  same  point, 
and  not  less  worthy  of  regard.  But  rescue  it  en- 
tirely from  being  a  result  of  the  purpose  of  man, 
it  was  yet  in  the  hands  of  men  as  instruments  of 
Providence ;  and  as  such,  considering  the  evident 
wisdom  thereof,  as  revealed  by  time,  it  is  even  more 
worthy  of  our  respect.  But  we  shall  not  readily 
consent  so  to  stultify  the  fathers  of  the  American 
Church.  It  was  evidently  their  distinct  purpose,  and 
what  is  more,  as  we  believe,  it  was  the  purpose  of 
God  for  the  wisest  and  best  ends. 

It  cannot  be  out  of  the  mind  of  any  person  of  the 
scantiest  information,  how  the  world  had  for  centuries 
been  shocked  with  the  arrogance  and  abominations 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  no  people  felt  it  more 
than  the  great  majority  of  the  British  North  Ameri- 
can colonists.  And  it  happened  unfortunately,  that 
the  administration  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the 
colonies,  for  want  of  bishops  as  a  principal  cause, 
was  not  the  purest — so  far  from  it,  that  the  people 
outside  of  her  pale,  in  the  colonics,  scarcely  made  a 
difference  between  the  Church  of  England  and  the 
Church  of  Rome.  Their  prejudices,  doubtless,  as  in 
all  such  cases,  run  into  an  extreme ;  but  they  were 
not  altogether  without  cause.  Such  prejudices  as 
certainly  have  a  cause,  as  they  are  more  or  less 
unreasonable.  It  was  for  this  cause,  that  the  Church 
of  England  was  entirely  broken  down  in  the  state  of 
Virginia,  and   that,  since  her  reorganization   as  an 


TO  THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.      211 

American  Church,  she  has  not  even  yet  regained  the 
full  confidence  of  that  commonwealth ;  hut  she  still 
labors  under  many  grievous  disadvantages  on  that 
account.  The  clerical  robes  used  in  the  offices  of 
the  Church — which,  it  must  be  confessed,  are  rather 
decencies  than  essentials — were  for  a  long  period, 
and  still  are  to  some  extent,  scouted  as  "rags  of 
Popery."  The  clergy  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
Virginia,  after  the  American  Revolution,  were  for  the 
most  part,  obliged  to  dispense  with  their  clerical 
vestments  altogether,  and  some  of  them,  to  convince 
the  people  how  little  they  regarded  these  robes  as 
essential,  are  said — we  cannot  vouch  for  the  fact — 
to  have  appeared,  discharging  the  offices  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  pulpit,  in  a  round  jacket,  without 
skirts  !  That,  doubtless,  Avould  be  regarded  as  an 
extreme  of  accommodation  ;  but,  if  it  was  ever  done, 
we  cannot  say  it  was  not  done  from  a  good,  and 
even  a  commendable  purpose,  "  to  those  without 
law,  as  without  law,  but  under  the  law  to  Christ." 
To  this  day,  there  are  many  Episcopal  Churches  in 
Vii'ginia — whether  the  majority  we  know  not — where 
the  surplice  cannot  be  used  without  ofiFence,  and 
where  the  clergy  pay  respect  to  this  feeling — we 
think  wisely.  What  is  the  object  of  the  Christian 
ministry  but  to  "  gain  some,"  and  as  many  as  pos- 
sible, by  all  legitimate  means,  negative  or  positive. 
In  the  same  spirit  of  accommodation,  as  w^e  suppose, 
we  once  saw  Bishop  Hobart  officiating  in  Western 
New  York,  robed  in  nothing  but  the  common  garb 
of  a  layman.  It  was,  as  we  supposed  at  the  time, 
because  most  of  his  audience  belonged  to  other  deno- 


212  ACCOMMODATION   OF   THE   CHURCH 

minations  of  Christians,  "^^'lio  -n'ould  liave  been  more 
impressed  by  bis  official  robes,  if  he  had  worn  them, 
than  by  his  sermon  and  other  offices.  How  often 
Bishop  Hobart  did  the  same  thing  for  like  reasons, 
we  are  unable  to  say ;  but  we  have  no  doubt,  that  he 
was  always  more  scrupulous  for  doing  good,  than  for 
conforming  to  non-essentials.  He  was  "  all  things 
to  all  men,"  an  accomplished  tactician  in  the  em- 
ployment of  his  personal  influence,  as  well  as  a 
model  bishop,  never  sacrificing  the  proprieties  and 
dignity  of  his  office,  but  always  accommodating. 

The  American  Episcopal  Church  was  forced,  in  her 
organization,  and  in  the  administration  of  her  wor- 
ship and  discipline,  to  accommodate  herself  to  the 
genius,  and  even  to  consider  the  prejudices  of  the 
American  people.  It  was  at  least  a  matter  of  great 
prudence  to  do  so.  If  she  had  not  done  it,  her 
chance  of  doing  good  would  have  been  slender.  The 
prejudices  were  too  strong  against  her,  and  they  are 
not  overcome  to  this  day,  possibly  never  will  be.  A 
common  objection  still  made,  and  one  of  great  influ- 
ence, is,  that  her  modes  of  worship  are  too  diverse, 
too  formal,  too  much  like  those  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  that,  too,  before  the  recent  novelties,  mul- 
tiplying forms,  and  diversifying  modes,  still  more 
like  the  Church  of  Rome,  were  introduced  in  some 
of  our  churches.  It  was,  we  think,  a  distinct  aim 
of  the  fathei'S  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church, 
and  we  think,  too,  that  it  has  been  the  aim  of  the 
great  majority  of  her  bishops  and  clergy  since  the 
time  of  the  fathers — we  mean  not  the  ancient  fathers, 
but  our  own — to  secure  and  maintain  the  greatest 


TO  THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.      213 

simplicity  of  'n'orsbip  possible,  consistent  with  the 
great  and  overruling  purpose  of  a  Church  with  a 
liturgy ;  and  this  in  accommodation  to  the  genius 
and  prejudices  of  the  people  to  be  gained  and  oper- 
ated upon.  A  church  does  not  exist  for  itself  alone, 
or  chiefly,  but  for  the  world  around  it.  Its  mission 
is  to  the  world,  and  if  it  does  not  gain  the  world,  its 
mission  fails  of  its  great  end.  If  it  fails  for  want 
of  adaptation  in  the  means  employed,  so  far  as  they 
consist  in  non-essentials,  it  is  a  fault  of  a  grave  char- 
acter. If  it  fails  for  insisting  on  non-essentials,  in 
the  face  of  an  experience  of  their  inutility,  or  of 
their  operation  as  obstacles,  it  is  a  yet  graver  fault. 
And  more  than  all,  peradventure,  is  it  a  fault,  to 
introduce  novel,  it  may  be,  obnoxious  non-essentials — 
obnoxious,  we  mean,  to  the  genius  of  the  American  peo- 
ple— and  force  them  into  use,  against  custom,  on  the 
responsibility  of  individuals,  for  the  gratification  of 
their  fancy  or  their  taste,  without  the  general  sanc- 
tion or  consent  of  the  Church.  Clearly,  this  is  not 
in  accordance  with  the  genius  of  the  American  Epis- 
copal Church,  which  has  taken  so  much  care  to 
abstain  from  an  excess  of  ceremony,  and  sanctioned 
only  that  which  was  regarded  as  suited  to  her  litur- 
gical observances  and  other  appointed  rites ;  which, 
indeed,  has  dispensed  with  some  prescribed  usages 
and  forms,  or  left  them  to  the  discretion  of  the  ofii- 
ciating  clergyman,  in  accommodation  to  the  j.-oiudiccs 
of  the  people. 

But  history,  we  are  told,  is  philosophy  teaching 
by  example ;  and  we  have  a  most  instructive  chapter 
on  this  subject  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 


214  ACCOMMODATION    OF   THE   CHURCH 

land.  No  one,  we  tliink,  can  examine  that  history 
attentively,  without  seeing,  that  the  great  body  of 
schism  witli  which  that  Church  was  for  centuries 
afflicted,  under  the  names  of  Nonconformity,  Puri- 
tanism, and  Dissent,  ramifying  into  many  other  minor 
sections,  was  principally  occasioned  by  insisting  on 
non-essentials,  chiefly  of  a  ceremonial  character. 
Elizabeth  was  stubbornly  vicious  in  these  matters, 
and  her  conduct  gave  birth  to  swarms  of  Noncon- 
formists, to  her  own  personal  vexation,  and  to  the 
great  injury  of  the  Church.  Her  severe  treatment 
of  Nonconformists  was  the  beginning  of  a  schism  in 
the  Church  of  England,  chiefly  on  account  of  cere- 
mony, which  finally  overturned  both  Church  and 
State,  and  which  has  ramified  into  various  forms, 
annoying  and  afflicting  the  Church  ever  since. 

Charles  the  First  was  another  eminent  example  of 
imprudence  in  this  particular,  and  his  rashness  brought 
himself  and  Archbishop  Laud  to  the  scaffold — all  for 
ceremony,  all  for  non-essentials  in  religion  !  For 
this  was  the  kernel  of  the  difficulties,  although  more 
grave  matters  became  involved.  When  controversies 
in  society  have  once  been  started,  with  an  excited 
temper  between  the  parties,  they  naturally  tend  to 
aggravation  in  form  and  matter.  Bishop  Short  says : 
"It  was  madness  to  suppose,  that  the  enforcing  them 
(these  ceremonies)  would  cure  the  evil  (of  Noncon- 
formity), or  fail  to  irritate  and  augment  the  disorder. 
Pure  Christianity,  when  placed  near  fanaticism  or 
formalism,  will  ordinarily  soon  gain  the  ascendant 
over  either  the  one  or  the  other;  but  extremes  are 
little  likely  to  produce  a  cure  to  their  opposite  evils." 
(§  569.) 


TO  TUE  GENIUS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.      215 

Like  causes,  though  operating  in  different  forms, 
invariably  produce  like  results,  though  the  results 
may  also  have  a  different  shape.  It  would  be  lament- 
able, indeed,  if,  failing  to  be  instructed  by  this  por- 
tion of  English  history,  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  should  seek  to  revive  those  very  ceremonies, 
which  the  people  of  England,  though  long  accustomed 
to  them,  could  not  endure,  and  which  the  Church  of 
England,  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  had  laid  aside,  not  by 
neglect,  but  from  expediency,  and  by  a  vital  neces- 
sity. It  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  reasons  for  not 
adopting  them  in  the  United  States,  are  much  more 
potent  than  the  reasons  for  laying  them  aside  in  Eng- 
land. Here  they  cannot  be  imposed,  and  therefore 
will  produce  no  convulsion.  But  it  should  not  be  for- 
gotten, that,  introduced  and  practised  here,  they  must 
necessarily  pass  under  the  severe  ordeal  of  public 
opinion  ;  and  the  same  instincts  of  the  common  mind, 
which  denounced  and  overthrew  them  in  England,  will 
denounce  them  here,  and  put  an  effectual  bar  in  the 
way  of  the  growth  of  that  Church  which  may  adopt 
them.  For  an  effect  of  this  kind,  in  no  small  degree 
alarming,  already  produced  by  the  partial  revival  of 
those  usages  in  a  portion  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church,  see  the  Note  in  the  following  chapter,  page 
243,  and  the  remarks  thereupon. 

We  think  he  would  be  a  bold  Churchman,  who  should 
say,  with  the  lights  of  history  shining  upon  him,  that 
these  usages  are  vital  parts  of  the  Church.  And  if  it 
shall  appear,  that  they  have  proved  vital  misfortunes 
to  the  Church  of  England,  and  that  they  are  becoming 
so  to  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  is  it  not  a 


216  ACCOMMODATION   OF   THE   CHURCH 

weighty  responsibility  to  seek  to  revive  them  ?  If  the 
people  of  England,  'svho  had  ever  been  used  to  rather 
an  excess  of  ceremony  in  the  Church,  could  ill  brook 
the  appointed  ritual,  and  made  such  quarrel  ■with 
Charles  I.,  for  enforcing  these  customs,  as  to  upset  the 
Church  and  State  together,  can  it  be  expected,  that 
the  American  Episcopal  Church  will  prosper  among 
the  American  people  by  a  similar  course  ?  If  the 
conscience  of  the  people  of  England  Avas  so  much 
offended  at  the  introduction,  in  the  ritual  and  other 
observances  of  the  Church,  of  what  they  regarded  as 
histrionic  exhibitions,  can  it  be  supposed,  that  the 
taste  of  the  American  people  is  so  much  improved, 
as  to  be  ready  to  entertain  similar  things  ? 

It  cannot  be  denied,  it  is  well  known  as  a  promi- 
nent historical  fact,  that  the  Americans  are  less 
impressed,  and  less  attracted  by  much  ceremony  in 
religion,  than  any  other  people  in  the  world.  Be- 
sides that  they  are  prejudiced  against  it,  because  it 
is  always  associated  with  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  they  have  not  generally  a  taste  for  it. 
They  are  a  practical,  matter-of-fact  people,  and  wish 
to  come  at  the  thing,  Avithout  its  being  incumbered 
with  signs.  They  can  endure  ceremony — pity  if  it 
should  be  merely  an  endurance — but  they  are  never 
won  by  it.  How  rarely  is  a  convert  made  from  the 
Protestant  to  the  papal  faith?  And  one  of  the  chief 
reasons  probably  is,  that  Protestants  are  generally 
disgusted,  rather  than  charmed,  by  the  numerous 
ceremonial  observances  and  rites  of  the  Church  of 
Rome.  It  is  true,  they  strike  the  imagination 
forcibly,  and  they  are  well  adapted  to  unthinking, 


TO  THE  GENIUS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.      217 

unreasoning  minds ;  and  now  and  then,  where  ima- 
gination is  the  ruling  faculty  of  the  mind,  a  convert 
is  made  from  Protestantism.  Such,  we  doubt  not, 
will  be  found  to  be  the  true  philosophy  of  nearly  all 
such  cases.  It  is,  therefore,  as  we  think,  the 
greatest'  mistake  in  philosophy  to  suppose,  that  the 
American  Episcopal  Church  wants  more  ceremony. 
Every  where,  within  the  range  of  our  own  personal 
observation,  especially  in  the  country  where  taste 
is  less  artificial,  ceremony  is  the  greatest  obstacle 
she  has  to  contend  with,  in  acting  on  the  American 
mind.  The  very  siiggestion  of  this  idea  will  no 
doubt  strike  most  persons,  as  accordant  with  their 
own  observation.  It  is  true,  undoubtedly,  that 
people  become  attached  to  the  ceremonial  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  when  they  get  used  to  it ;  and  it 
is  equally  true,  that  they  who  have  been  accustomed 
to  little  ceremony  in  religion,  are  not  naturally 
attracted  by  the  Episcopal  service.  It  is  prudent, 
therefore,  to  consider  this  last  named  fact,  if  we 
desire  the  enlargement  of  the  Church,  and  well  to. 
be  content  with  our  time-honored  and  long-estab- 
lished service,  without  introducing  novelties  in  the 
ceremonies,  borrowed  fi'om  a  history  which  is  no 
part  of  the  history  of  our  own  Church. 

The  mission  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  is 
to  the  American  people,  and  nothing  could  be  more 
philosophical  than  to  adapt  its  ceremonial,  as  well  as 
its  polity,  to  the  genius  of  that  people  ;  and  nothing, 
surely,  could  be  more  unphilosophical  than  to  disre- 
gard the  genius  of  the  people  in  these  arrangements. 
Some  may  say,  let  us  know  where  the  path  of  duty 
19 


218  SPIRIT   or   ACCOxMMODATIOX. 

lies,  and  if  we  go  in  it,  let  the  people  receive  or  reject 
us,  our  skirts  arc  clear.  This  is  very  \Yell  as  to  all 
things  vital  to  Christianity,  and  to  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel;  but  in  things  iiidilTerent,  in  the  ways  and 
means  of  accomplishing  the  ends  of  Christianity,  the 
question  of  duty  has  entirely  a  different  aspect.  It 
is  not  to  ascertain  a  thing  given,  and  then  to  take 
and  use  it,  without  farther  qutistioii,  as  in  a  truth  of 
the  Gospel;  hut  it  is  to  select  out  of  things  given, 
the  best  means  of  accomplishing  a  given  end.  It  is 
very  much  wanting  in  wisdom  to  say,  I  will  take 
that  means,  and  no  other,  without  regard  to  Avhich  is 
best ;  and  to  make  a  matter  of  conscience  of  it,  is 
getting  up  a  conscience  for  the  occasion,  where  con- 
science has  no  legitimate  domain.  It  is  a  mere  mat- 
ter of  judgment. 

The  mission  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  to 
the  American  people,  is  one  of  lofty  import,  of 
boundless  scope,  and  of  interminable  prospect,  if 
rightly  begun,  as  it  doubtless  was,  and  rightly  con- 
ducted, as  it  has  been  hitherto.  But  a  passion  to 
augment  its  ceremonial,  indulged  in,  encouraged, 
and  finally  sanctioned,  will,  we  fear,  disappoint  that 
mission  forever,  and  be  a  virtual  surrender  of  the 
field  to  some  more  prudent  and  far-seeing  instru- 
mentality. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

TUE  NOVELTIES  RECENTLY  INTRODUCED  INTO  PORTIONS  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  AS  THEY  AFFECT  HER  GENIUS, 
HER  PROSPECTS,  AND  THE  SIMPLICITY  AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  HER 
WORSHIP. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected— it  was  impossible  in 
the  course  we  have  marked  out  for  this  volume,  un- 
der the  title  which  defines  our  general  subject— that 
we  should  overlook  so  prominent  and  so  important 
a  subject  in  Church  history,  as  that  which  is  now  to 
be  considered. 

The  American  Episcopal  Church  being  independ- 
ent, we  regard  it  as  a  self-evident  proposition,  not 
requiring  argument,  that  no  authority  can  be  ad- 
duced for  her  own  regime,  doctrine,  and  usages, 
which  cannot  be  found  within  herself,  from  or  after 
the  date  of  her  organization.  This  is  what  we  mean 
by  the  term,  unautJiorized,  in  the  tenth  proposition 
laid  down  page  164,  which  is  clearly  indicated  in  the 
qualifying  words,  hj  the  Church.  In  this  view,  and 
with  this  explanation,  it  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  the 
expression  of  an  opinion,  but  as  a  simple  statement 
of  fact,  from  which,  we  suppose,  no  party  concerned 
would  dissent.  The  purpose  of  stating  the  fact,  is 
simply  to  show  the  position  which  the  novelties  lately 
introduced  in  some  of  our  churches,  occupy,  in  rela- 
tion to  the   authority  of  the  Church ;  and  no  disre- 

(219) 


220  THE   NOVELTIES. 

spcct  is  here  intended  to  those  who  practise  them, 
because  it  is  presumed  that  even  they  would  not 
pretend  to  find  authority  for  them  in  the  American 
Episcopal  Church.  We  do  not  mean  to  deny  the 
authority  alleged,  or  which  we  take  for  granted  must 
be  alleged ;  or  to  aver,  that  any  canons  of  the  Ame- 
rican Episcopal  Church  have  been  violated,  for  there 
is  no  legislation  on  the  subject ;  but  only,  that  the 
responsibility  for  these  changes  devolves  on  those 
who  have  introduced  and  who  practise  them.  It  is 
clear,  we  think,  that  the  authority  for  these  practices 
lies  back  of  the  organization  of  the  American 
Church,  and  outside  of  her  pale.  This  is  all  we 
have  proposed  to  establish  on  this  point. 

What  has  been  the  general  practice  of  the  Amer- 
ican Church,  is  too  well  known  to  require  a  state- 
ment here  ;  and  the  author  of  these  pages,  was  in 
England  four  years  previous  to  1835,  attending  all 
that  time  very  frequently,  all  over  England,  more 
especially  in  London,  the  cathedral  and  other 
churches  of  the  establishment,  and  he  never  wit- 
nessed, so  far  as  he  is  able  to  recollect,  a  single  one 
of  these  novelties,  in  the  services  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. Certainly  they  were  not  out  of  mind  as  mat- 
ters of  history,  but  were  then,  and  still  are,  Avitnessed 
every  day  in  the  public  service  of  the  Church  of 
Rome.  We  conclude,  therefore,  from  the  desuetude 
into  which  they  had  so  long  passed,  in  the  Church  of 
England,  that  they  were  regarded  as  uncongenial  to 
the  Protestant  character  of  that  Church;  and  that 
they  were  not  rejected  from  neglect  of  duty,  but  for 
public  reasons  and  sufficient  cause.     And  when  we 


THE   NOVELTIES.  221 

consider  the  extreme  difficulty  which  the  American 
branch  of  the  Church  encountered,  as  every  one 
acquainted  with  that  history  must  know,  in  adopting 
the  present  Prayer  Book,  on  account  of  the  excess, 
as  then  deemed,  of  the  ritual  and  ceremonies  pre- 
scribed ;  and  that  the  Church  of  England  herself  had 
laid  aside  many  of  the  ceremonies  retained  after  the 
Reformation,  for  the  same  reason,  on  account  of 
which  the  American  Church  was  reluctant  to  take 
what  was  then  in  use  in  the  English  Church ;  it  is 
somewhat  remarkable,  that  an  attempt  should  now  be 
made,  both  in  the  English  and  American  Churches, 
to  restore  ceremonies,  which  the  Church  of  England 
very  much  desired  to  lay  aside  at  the  Reformation, 
but  could  not  conveniently,  on  account  of  the  great- 
ness of  the  change ;  which,  for  the  same  reasons,  she 
had  gradually  dropped ;  which,  if  they  had  been  pro- 
posed at  the  organization  of  the  American  branch, 
would,  doubtless,  have  been  universally  rejected  ;  and 
which,  as  we  believe,  are  as  much  against  the  taste 
of  the  American  mind  now  as  then.  However  they 
may  be  prescribed  in  the  old  standards  and  canon 
law  of  the  Church  of  England,  they  are  certainly 
not  prescribed,  either  in  the  polity  or  rubrics  of  the 
American  Church. 

In  our  seventh  proposition,  page  163,  is  presented 
a  principle  applicable  to  this  subject,  the  validity  of 
which,  we  think,  will  not  be  questioned  by  fair  minds, 
viz.,  that  we  cannot  go  outside  of  our  own  Church  for 
authority  for  its  usages.  So  long  as  there  is  no  legis- 
lation in  the  Church  on  the  subject  of  these  new 
practices,  they  rest  on  the  responsibility  of  those  who 
19* 


222  THE   NOVELTIES. 

adopt  them.  But  they  cannot  plead  the  authority 
of  the  Church,  nor  any  authority  Avithin  the  Church 
other  than  that  which  is  personal  to  themselves.  It 
is  true,  we  speak  of  literary,  scientific,  and  other 
authorities,  which  are  held  in  respect,  according  to 
their  comparative  merits,  in  the  classes  to  which  they 
belong;  but  this  is  not  the  kind  of  authority  that 
will  pass  current  in  the  matter  now  under  considera- 
tion, except  only  in  the  same  sense.  And  we  are 
not  aAvare,  that  it  will  be  claimed  in  any  other  sense. 
How  can  it  be  ?  What,  then,  does  it  amount  to  ? 
Whence  these  changes  ?  No  one  can  doubt  that 
they  originated  in  the  Oxford  Tractarian  school. 
And  what  have  been  the  fruits  of  that  school  ? 
Troops  of  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  Church  of 
England  have  gone  over  to  Rome,  and  other  troops 
are  following.  Numbers  of  the  clergy  and  laity  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States,  have  also  gone  the  same  way,  and  are  still 
going.  One  of  the  most  prominent  and  most  influ- 
ential leaders  of  this  movement,  in  the  United  States, 
Bishop  Ives,  (who  has  also  gone  to  Rome,)  confessed 
publicly,  in  a  document  addressed  to  the  Convention 
of  North  Carolina,  in  1851,  "  that  it  had  been  at 
one  time  a  very  favorite  idea  with  him  to  bring  about 
a  union  of  the  Roman,  the  Greek,  the  Anglican,  and 
the  American  Churches."  Was  ever  one  so  weak  as 
to  imagine,  that  the  Church  of  Rome  would  concede 
any  thing ;  or  meet  half  way ;  or  move  a  single  inch 
towards  these  other  Churches ;  or  that  the  latter 
would  not  have  to  march  the  whole  distance,  and  fall 
into  the  arms  of  the  former,  to  accomplish  a  union  ? 


THE   NOVELTIES.  223 

Whether  volunteered  or  required,  Tve  knoAV  not ;  but 
we  are  now  informed,  that  Bishop  Ives,  when  he  was 
received  into  the  Church  of  Rome,  confessed  to 
"rebellion"  against  the  Pope  while  he  acted  as  a 
Protestant  bishop. 

The  results  of  the  Oxford  school,  in  England,  now 
constitute  a  class  of  well  ascertained  facts,  of  a  defi- 
nite character,  all  tending  one  way,  and  that  ~  to 
Rome ;  and  the  same  influences  have  produced  the 
same  effect  in  the  United  States. 

It  is  a  subject  of  congratulation,  certainly,  that 
many  of  those  who  have  favored  this  movement,  and 
been  prominent  and  influential  in  it,  but  with  no 
purpose  of  favoring  the  Church  of  Rome,  have  seen 
the  necessity  of  trying  to  prevent  the  consequences, 
and  labored  hard  to  stop  those  who  were  going  over 
to  Rome.  But  have  they  begun  at  the  right  end  ? 
Have  they  laid  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the  tree  ?  If 
not,  the}''  are  only  lopping  off  a  branch  here  and 
there,  and  the  tree  will  still  fructify,  and  bear  its 
evil  fruit.  While  the  tree  stands  in  the  chancels  of 
our  churches,  overshadowing  our  altars,  can  the  work 
of  prevention  be  fully  accomplished  ?  We  know 
how  highly  men  prize  the  jewel  of  consistency,  and 
how  hard  it  is  to  throw  it  away,  even  when  duty  may 
seem  to  require  it. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  that  the  remarks  of  this 
chapter  apply  to  improvements  in  Church  architec- 
ture, or  to  stained  glass  with  designs.  We  should 
be  glad  to  see  the  study  of  Church  architecture  go  on 
to  perfection.  Nor  are  they  intended  to  apply  to 
the  new  arrangements  in  the  chancels  of  our  churches, 


224  THE   NOVELTIES. 

■which,  for  the  most  part,  seem  to  us  suitable,  and  a 
great  improvement.  TVe  should  be  heartily  glad  to 
see  all  the  pulpit  tubs  of  Christendom  floating  on  the 
surface  of  the  great  deep,  never  to  be  gathered  up 
again.  Nor  do  ^ve  object  to  the  highest  degree  of 
improvement  in  the  character,  style,  and  performance 
of  Church  music.  It  is  a  heavenly  art,  and  fit  to  be 
cultivated  by  angels.  The  chants  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Chiw'ch  are  among  the  most  inspiring  parts 
of  her  service.  The  Te  Dciim  occasionally  and  '\^^ell 
performed  by  the  choir,  is  elevating  in  its  influence, 
and  rarely  fails  to  excite,  as  intended,  the  loftiest 
'adoration  of  the  Deity,  a  sublime  sense  of  the  ofiices 
of  the  Son  of  God,  and  a  fellowship  with  angels, 
with  the  Prophets,  with  the  Apostles,  and  with  "  the 
noble  Army  of  Martyrs."  And  an  occasional  per- 
formance of  the  Psalter,  or  portions  of  it,  by  the 
choir,  is  not  unacceptable  to  us  personally. 

But  who  will  not  feel,  that  every  thing  approach- 
ing the  Idstrionie  art  in  the  Church,  is  unsuitable  ? 
In  the  Church  of  Rome,  all  the  world  expects  to  see 
it.  Who  takes  pains  to  spend  Holy  Week  in  Rome, 
but  for  the  sake  of  a  histrionic  exhibition,  on  a  scale 
of  dazzling  magnificence  ?  And  who  ever  returned 
from  the  spectacle  a  more  penitent  sinner,  or  a  more 
humble  believer  in  Jesus  Christ  ?  Is  it  not  a  play 
over  which,  while  men  admire,  angels  might  weep, 
because  it  is  enacted  in  the  sanctuary  of  God,  under 
the  sanction  of  "the  Primate  of  all  Christendom,"his 
priesthood  being  the  actors  ? 

To  draw  the  line  between  the  purely  histrionic 
and  the  appropriately  symbolic  in  religion,  may  be 


THE   NOVELTIES.  225 

difficult.  This,  however,  is  the  line,  which  wc  wish 
to  find,  in  the  subject  now  under  consideration. 
Symbols  in  religion  there  must  be.  None  can  speak 
against  them,  because  all  must  have  them.  Are  not 
the  Christian  Sacraments  symbolic,  besides  being 
something  more?  Every  form  of  Divine  worship, 
in  every  Christian  denomination,  however  simple,  is 
yet  symbolic.  The  Puritan,  who  stands  before  God, 
with  uplifted  face,  closed  eyes,  stretched  out  arras, 
or  clasped  hands,  .praying  to  heaven,  is,  in  spite  of 
himself,  a  living  and  an  expressive  symbol.  The 
Quaker,  sitting  demure  in  his  meeting-house,  with  a 
drab  coat  fashioned  in  a  peculiar  manner,  and  with 
hat  on  his  head,  is  an  impressive  symbol  of  his  reli- 
gion. The  Churchman,  who,  like  the  Quaker,  ima- 
gines that  churchmanship  consists,  at  least  in  part, 
in  the  appointments  of  his  private  wardrobe,  is  a 
symbol  of  his  profession  as  he  walks  the  street. 

But  there  are  symbols  ordered  in  tlie  services  of 
the  American  Episcopal  Church,  such  as  the  sign  of 
the  Cross  in  baptism,  when  not  objected  to  by  him  who 
brings  the  child.  In  the  consecration  of  the  elements 
at  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  priest  is  required,  while  in 
the  act  of  prayer  or  consecration,  to  employ  five  dif- 
ferent symbols  or  signs  successively,  all  of  which  are 
significant  of  the  events  alluded  to.  The  kneeling 
of  the  priest  and  people  in  prayer,  and  standing  in 
singing,  as  ordered  by  the  rubrics,  are  symbolic. 
The  rising  of  the  priest  to  pronounce  the  absolution, 
while  the  people  are  still  kneeling,  is  symbolic ;  and 
so  the  priest,  kneeling  at  the  reading  desk,  at  the 


226  THE   NOVELTIES. 

Communion  table,  and  in  the  pulpit,  before  and  after 
certain  services,  to  pray  in  silence,  is  symbolic,  as 
well  as  an  act  of  devotion.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  many  other  acts  and  ceremonies  prescribed  and  in 
use  in  the  services  of  the  Church. 

But  where  shall  we  find  the  line  between  the  his- 
trionic and  that  in  religion  which  is  appropriately 
symbolic  ?  Apart  from  sacred  song,  which  is  neces- 
sarily an  art,  and  so  far  as  ministerial  acts  of  devo- 
tion are  concerned — and  this  is  the  important  point — 
we  think  there  cannot  be  much  difficulty  in  finding 
that  line.  The  instincts  of  our  nature  always  give 
a  true  account,  in  all  their  teachings,  and  for  that 
reason  their  verdict  is  invariably  worthy  of  respect. 
Our  conscience  is  an  instinct — is  it  not  ?  Our  sense 
of  humility,  in  the  presence  of  God,  is  another — 
both,  indeed,  of  a  religious  character.  Would  not 
these  feelings,  and  others  akin  to  them,  in  the  minds 
of  Protestant  Christians  of  our  age  and  country, 
naturally  be  offended  at  the  exhibition  of  diversified 
acts  of  pantomime  in  the  offices  of  a  minister  of 
religion,  to  represent  his  own  devotions,  and  to 
excite  the  devotions  of  the  people  ?  And  yet,  if 
we  mistake  not,  this  is  precisely  the  question  now 
on  trial.  Who  will  deny,  that  the  new  customs, 
consisting  of  certain  acts,  movements,  and  positions 
of  the  officiating  minister,  within,  and  sometimes 
without  the  chancel,  are  intended  for  effect  on  the 
congregation  through  the  eye  ?  If  not,  Avhy  employ 
them  ?  And  if  such  is  the  purpose,  are  they  not 
histrionic  ?     In  other  words,  is  it  not  stage  effect  ? 


THE   NOVELTIES.  227 

And  where  is  it  to  stop?*  These  novelties  have 
been  increasing  among  us  in  number  and  variety  for 
years,  and  every  year  adds  to  them,  in  one  phice  or 
another.  It  is  not  denied,  that  authority  for  them 
all  may  be  found  in  past  history,  but  certainly  not 
in  the  American  Episcopal  Church.  They  may  all 
be  found  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 

»  We  lately  saw  an  archdeacon  of  the  English  church— of  the 
Oxford  School,  we  presume— officiating  in  one  of  our  churches, 
in  which  the  only  inclination  of  the  head  or  bow  customarily 
made,  was  at  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Apostles'  Creed. 
But  the  archdeacon,  during  the  whole  service,  whenever  tho 
names  and  titles  of  Christ  occurred,  turned  to  the  Communion 
table  and  made  a  very  low  bow ;  and  during  his  sermon  he  did 
the  same  reverence  at  the  name  of  Christ,  though  he  had  not 
room  in  the  pulpit  to  bow  so  low.  In  the  ascription  at  the  close 
of  his  sermon,  he  turned  entirely  round,  faced  the  wall — the 
pulpit  being  attached  to  the  wall,  the  angle  of  which  was  between 
him  and  the  Communion  table— and  bowed  as  he  pronounced  the 
name  of  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity.  As  before  noticed, 
these  practices  have  grown  up  in  the  Church  of  England,  within 
a  few  years,  and  doubtless  came  on  by  degrees.  Are  we  travel- 
ling the  same  road  ?  And  where  is  to  be  the  end  of  it  ?  In  the 
Church  of  Rome  ?  The  archdeacon,  as  must  be  confessed,  had 
his  authority  in  the  18th  canon  of  1003,  in  which  will  be  found 
the  following  clause:  "And  likewise  when,  in  time  of  Divine 
service,  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  mentioned,  due  and  lowly  reve- 
rence shall  be  done  by  all  persons  present,  as  it  hath  been  accus- 
tomed." This  custom,  however,  as  we  believe,  had  ceased  in  the 
Church  of  England  for  ages,  till  recently  revived  by  the  Oxford 
school^  We  do  not  know  whether  the  archdeacon  felt  con- 
scientiously bound  to  practise  these  bows  in  an  American  Church, 
and  to  wear  his  Doctor's  hood.  If  so,  we  have  nothing  to  say. 
But  it  struck  us  at  the  time,  that  he  might  have  used  his  discre- 
tion, and  dispensed  with  these  exhibitions,  when  he  must  have 
known,  that  they  would  naturally  attract  attention,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  edification  and  instruction. 


228  THE   NOVELTIES. 

Is  the  purpose  to  go  on  in  such  conformity,  till  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States 
shall  have  as  much  ceremony  as  that  of  Rome,  that 
its  histrionic  effect  may  be  equally  great  ?  We  have 
churches  already,  which,  in  some  respects,  have  out- 
stripped the  ordinary  service  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
and  ■which  will  intone  the  ritual,  and  practise  anti- 
phonal  chants,  in  as  fine  a  style,  as  was  ever  done  in 
a  monastery,  and  probably  better,  as  the  hoarse 
voices  of  the  monks  were  never  reputed  musical ; 
and  the  novelty  of  these  practices  in  a  Protestant 
church,  has  attracted  considerable  attention,  which, 
possibly,  is  put  down  for  their  good  effect.  As  a 
histrionic  exhibition,  it  is  doubtless  interesting.  But 
it  is  to  be  feared,  that  the  audiences,  for  the  most 
part,  retire  as  from  a  show,  rather  than  with  reli- 
gious edification. 

We  have  said,  that  common  feeling  will  best  draw 
the  line  between  appropriate  symbols  in  religion  and 
histrionic  exhibitions.  If  people  go  away  from  the 
exhibition  of  these  novelties  in  an  American  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  say,  they  can  see  little  or  no  diffe- 
rence between  them  and  the  services  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  it  is  a  practical  commentary,  full  of 
instruction.  It  is  common  and  general  impressions 
of  this  kind,  that  will  decide  the  character  of  every 
Church  with  the  public,  and  attract  to  or  repel  from 
its  services  and  communion ;  and  it  should  never  be 
forgotten,  that  the  American  people  are  not  at  bot- 
tom a  ceremony  loving  people,  in  religion  or  in  any 
thing  else,  but  the  contrary.  In  large  cities  there 
will   always   be  imaginative  persons  enough  to  be 


THE   NOVELTIES.  229 

arttracted  by  new  things ;  kut  it  is  the  great  mass 
of  the  American  mind,  on  which  an  American  Church 
should  aim  to  be  effective  in  its  administrations. 
What  clergyman  would  think  it  well  to  introduce 
these  practices  in  a  country  church  ?  Yet  such  an 
experiment  would  be  the  true  test  of  their  character. 
The  Church  of  England  has  well  said,  in  the 
preface  to  her  Book  of  Common  Prayer  : — "  Christ's 
Gospel  is  not  a  ceremonial  law ;  but  a  religion  to 
serve    God,   not    in    the    bonda2:e    of  the  fi2;ure   or 

f  o  CD 

shadow,  but  in  the  freedom  of  the  spirit,  being  con- 
tent only  with  those  ceremonies  which  do  serve  to  a 
decent  order  and    godly  discipline." 

It  is  not  that  art  should  be  entirely  excluded  from 
public  worship,  that  these  remarks  are  made.  Singing 
is  an  art,  and  an  exalted  one.  Preaching  is  an  art, 
and  rfost  important.  But  devotion  is  not  an  art,  and 
never  can  be.  It  is  deeper,  more  profound  than  art. 
Acting  a  part  can  in  no  Avay  represent  devotion.  Act- 
ing a  part  to  represent  the  soul  holding  converse  with 
God,  is  solemn  mockery.  If  it  should  be  said,  that 
kneeling  is  acting  a  part,  we  say  not,  in  the  his- 
trionic sense  of  the  terms.  It  is  the  mode  which 
nature  suggests  and  approves,  in  all  such  acts.  In 
public  worship,  there  ought  to  be  uniformity  in  acts 
of  devotion,  both  for  the  officiating  minister  and  for 
the  people ;  because  public  worship  is  designed  to 
express,  not  only  individual,  but  common  feeling. 
Private  worship  is  different,  because  the  individual 
often  has  occasion  to  express  feelings  peculiar  to 
himself.  He  may  sometimes  be  constrained  to  fall 
prostrate  on  his  face,  as  David  and  other  saints  of 
20 


230  THE   NOVELTIES. 

old  did,  and  weep,  and  cry  out  to  God,  for  his  sins ; 
■Nvliicli  he  confesses  there,  but  woukl  not,  perhaps 
should  not,  tell  to  others.  In  addition  to  the  appro- 
priate services  of  the  closet,  the  individual  may 
"worship  any  where,  in  the  house  or  by  the  way,  in 
any  position  and  in  any  posture,  when  his  feelings 
are  so  inclined.  He  worships  in  nature's  temple, 
when  he  looks  up  and  says  devoutly :  "  The  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth 
his  handy  work."  But  convenience  and  edification 
require  uniformity  in  public  worship,  else  there  might 
be  confusion  and  distraction ;  but  such  uniformity 
does  not,  we  think,  require  the  histrionic  enactment 
of  a  part. 

There  are  certain  simple  and  uniform  modes  which 
have  been  in  use  in  the  American  Episcopal  Church 
from  time  immemorial,  for  the  ofiiciating  minister  and 
for  the  people,  such  as,  for  all  to  kneel  and  pray,  on 
coming  into  Church  ;  for  the  minister  to  kneel  and 
pray  by  himself  at  the  opening  of  service,  and  at 
other  times  ;  for  tlie  congregation  to  kneel  in  prayer, 
and  to  stand  in  singing ;  and  for  communicants  to 
kneel  around  the  chancel,  with  their  hc;ids  leaning 
forward  on  the  rail.*     These  customs  are  decent, 

*  "  It  -was  declared,"  iu  Edward  the  Sixth's  time,  says  Bishop 
Burnet,  (Part  II.,  Book  I.)  "that  that  gesture  was  kept  up  as  a 
most  I'everent  and  humble  way  of  expressing  our  great  sense 
of  the  mercies  of  God  in  the  death  of  Christ  there  communicated 
to  us ;  but  that  thereby  there  was  no  adoration  intended  to  the 
bread  and  wine,  which  was  gross  idolatrj'."  Mi-.  Stavmton,  in  his 
Dictionary  of  the  Church,  saj'S ; — "  So  scrupulously  has  the 
Church  guarded  herself  against  this  error  of  the  Romanists,  that, 
in  the  I'rayer  Book  of  the  Church  of  England,  a  protestation  is 


THE   NOVELTIES.  231 

impressive,  edifying.  But  who  has  authorized  these 
novelties  ?  Is  it  not  a  study,  an  art,  to  go  through 
them  all,  d  la  mode?  Take,  for  example,  the  clergy- 
man, approaching  the  Communion  table,  and  kneel- 
ing on  a  lower  step,  or  at  a  distance  from  the  table, 
with  his  head  inclined  towards  it,  and  his  hands 
brought  together.  Is  it  not  a  study  ?  Is  it  not  as 
much  a  piece  of  art  as  any  statue  of  a  like  kind  ? 
And  where  did  it  come  from  ?  What  is  the  purpose 
of  it  ?  Is  it  not  purely  for  effect,  through  the  eyes 
of  the  congregation  ?  And  as  such,  is  it  not  histri- 
onic ?  Or,  is  it  to  express  the  feeling  of  the  officiat- 
ing minister,  or  such  as  he  ought  to  have  at  the  mo- 
ment ?  If  the  former,  the  feeling  cannot  always  be 
the  same,  and  the  mode  should  vary,  or  it  is  some- 
times at  least  a  false  show.  If  the  latter,  and  he 
has  not  the  feeling,  it  is  still  a  false  show. 

Like  criticisms  may  be  made  on  all  these  novelties, 
practised  within  and  around  the  chancel,  such  as 
turning  the  back  on  the  congregation,  as  if  God  were 
more  at  the  place  where  the  Communion  table  is,  than 

.ippended  to  the  Communion  Office,  to  meet  an  objection  some- 
times urged  against  kneeling  at  the  reception  of  the  Eucharist. 
After  stating  that  'this  attitude  is  here  adopted  to  signify  our  hum- 
ble and  grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  benefits  of  Christ  therein 
given  to  all  worthy  receivers,'  it  is  added,  '  yet,  lest  the  same 
kneeling  should  by  any  persons,  either  out  of  ignorance  and  infir- 
mity, or  out  of  malice  or  obstinacy,  be  misconstrued  and  de- 
praved, it  is  hereby  declared,  that  thereby  no  adoration  is  intended 
or  ought  to  be  done,  either  unto  the  sacramental  bread  or  wine  thus 
bodily  received,  or  unto  any  corporal  presence  of  Christ's  natural 
flesh  and  blood.  For  the  sacramental  bread  and  wine  remain 
still  in  their  very  natural  substances,  and  therefore  may  not  be  adored  ; 
for  that  were  idolatry,  to  be  abhorred  by  all  faithful  Christians' " 


232  THE   NOVELTIES. 

elsewhere.  The  rubric  in  the  Communion  service, 
preceding  the  Trisagion  and  its  "  proper  preface," 
viz.,  "  then  shall  the  priest  turn  to  the  Lord's  Table, 
and  say,"  has,  as  will  be  seen,  two  relations,  first  to 
the  position  of  the  priest  prescribed  in  the  rubric  for 
the  absolution,  "  turning  to  the  people,"  and  next  to 
the  appropriate  office  of  the  Communion  which  it 
orders  for  this  place.  The  rubric  for  consecrating 
the  elements  directs  the  priest  to  "  stand  before 
the  Table,"  a  case  of  apparent  necessity,  certainly 
of  convenience — not  with  his  back  to  the  congre- 
gation, but  "  that  he  may  with  more  readiness 
and  decency  break  the  bread  and  take  the  cup  into 
his  hands  before  the  people."  These  two  are  the 
only  rubrics  in  the  Prayer  Book,  directing  the  priest 
to  take  a  similar  position,  and  the  reasons  are 
obvious ;  which,  as  we  conceive,  is  equivalent  to  a 
rule,  that,  in  no  other  parts  of  this  office,  or  of  other 
services  prescribed  in  the  Prayer  Book,  shall  the 
same  position  be  taken.  The  priests  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  worship  toward  the  Altar,  because,  accord- 
ing to  their  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  the  body 
and  blood  of -Christ  are  there  as  a  real  sacrifice. 
This,  we  suppose,  is  the  sole  reason  of  the  prac- 
tice in  that  Church ;  and  consequently  it  is  the 
origin  of  the  practice.  The  priest  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  therefore,  in  turning  to  worship 
toward  the  Communion  table,  except  in  the  cases 
above  mentioned,  would  seem,  either  not  well  in- 
formed as  to  the  origin  of  the  practice,  or  to  be 
involved  in  an  obvious  inconsistency;  for,  in  the 
first  place,  the  consecrated  elements  are  not  on  the 


THE   NOVELTIES.  233 

Communion  table,  except  on  the  occasion  of  Commu- 
nion ;  and  in  tlic  next  place,  the  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation  is  not  received,  but  rejected  by  his  Church. 
{Articles  of  Religion,  xxviii.)  For  what  reason,  then, 
should  he  turn  and  worship  towards  the  Communion 
table  ?  And  does  he  not  thereby  sanction  an  error 
of  the  Church  of  Rome  ?* 

*  The  following  extracts  from  articles  dra-wn  up  on  this  subject 
by  Bishop  Shaxton,  of  Sarum,  England,  (-who  having  been  a  Re- 
former, under  Henry  the  Eighth,  -went  back  to  Rome  under 
Edward  VI.)  will,  perhaps,  fairly  exhibit  the  faith  of  that  Church, 
in  the  matter  of  Transubstantiation,  and  show  the  reason  of  wor- 
shipping towards  the  Altar  : — 

"Almighty  God,  by  the  power  of  his  word,  pronounced  by  the 
priest  at  Mass  in  the  consecration,  turneth  the  bread  and  wine 
into  the  natural  body  and  blood  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Chi'ist,  so 
that,  after  the  consecration,  there  remaineth  no  substance  of 
bread  and  wine,  but  only  the  substance  of  Christ,  God  and  man. 
The  same  blessed  sacrament,  being  once  consecrate,  is,  and  re- 
maineth still,  the  very  body  and  blood  of  our  Saviour  Christ, 
although  it  be  reserved,  and  not  presently  distributed.  The 
same  blessed  sacrament  being  consecrate,  is,  and  ought  to  be  wor- 
shipped and  adored  with  godly  honor,  wherever  it  is,  forasmuch  as 
it  is  the  body  of  Christ  inseparably  united  to  the  Deity.  The 
Church,  by  the  ministration  of  the  priest,  offereth  daily  at  the 
Mass,  for  a  sacrifice  to  Almighty  God,  the  self-same  body  and 
blood  of  our  Saviour  Christ,  under  the  form  of  bread  and  wine. 
...  It  is  the  self-same  in  substance  which  was  offered  upon  the 
cross  for  our  redemption." — (Burnet,  Fart  I. ^of  Records,  Book  III.) 

Here,  doubtless,  we  have  the  origin  and  reason  of  worshipping 
towards  the  Altar,  and  it  is  consistent  with  a  belief  in  the  doc- 
trine of  transubstantiation,  as  above  explained  by  Bishop  Shax- 
ton. But  we  need  not  say,  that  this  doctrine  is  rejected  by  all 
Protestant  Churches,  and  by  the  American  Episcopal  Church. 
It  was  one  of  the  great  points  of  the  Pi-otestant  Reformation. 
And  yet  some  of  our  clergy  turn  and  worship  towards  the  Com- 
munion table,  in  the  manner  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  if  the 

20* 


234  THE   NOVELTIES. 

Again :  Bowing,  making  the  sign  of  tlie  Cross, 
and  praying  silently  over  the  oblation,  when  laid 
upon  the  Communion  table — is  not  that  adding  to 
the  services  of  the  Church  ?  And  again  :  The  prac- 
tices of  describing  given  lines  and  angles,  by  move- 
ments within  the  chancel,  of  taking  up  studied 
positions  and  attitudes,  and  of  making  studied 
genuflexions,  all  have  the  appearance  of  art.  To 
these  may  be  added,  intoning  the  service,  as  is 
sometimes  practised,  the  original  purpose  of  which 
would  seem  to  have  been,  to  make  the  prayers 
attractive  among  the  uncultivated,  by  reciting  them 
in  a  species  of  monotonous  song.  And  lastly,  an- 
tiphonal  chants,  after  the  manner  of  the  monks,  the 
claims  of  which,  certainly,  are  very  remote  from 
those  of  good  music,  or  from  being  capable  of 
affording  pleasure  as  an  art. 

The  truth  is,  devotion,  in  our  addresses  to  the 
Divine  Being,  can  never  be  expressed  by  devices  of 
art.  Devotion,  left  to  itself,  would  rarely  be  ex- 
pressed twice  in  succession,  by  precisely  the  same 
mode.  In  public  worship,  however,  there  must  be 
uniformity  for  common  edification.  But  multiply 
devices  in  mode  unnecessarily,  and  they  become  a 
study,  an  art,  and  the  effect  is  that  of  art,  instead 
of  promoting  edification  in  the  more  exalted  themes 
of  religion,  and  in  acts  of  Divine  worship. 

But  there  is  yet  a  more  serious  aspect  of  these 
new  practices   appertaining  to  the   ordination  vows, 

body  and  blood  of  Christ  were  tlierc.  It  is  to  be  lioped,  they  do 
not  mean  by  that,  a  disposition  to  recognize  the  doctrine  of  tran 
substantiation. 


THE   NOVELTIES.  235 

as  taken  by  every  candidate  for  holy  orders.  If  the 
sign  of  the  Cross  in  Baptism,  if  the  signs  prescribed 
to  be  used  in  the  consecration  of  the  elements  in  the 
Communion  service,  and  many  other  ceremonies  or- 
dered in  the  rubrics,  are  parts  of  the  services  of  the 
Church,  as  doubtless  they  are,  then  clearly  these 
novelties  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  are  addi- 
tions to  the  services.  And  what  is  the  second  ordi- 
nation vow  ?  "  I  do  solemnly  engage  to  conform  to 
the  doctrines  and  worsJiip  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States."  If  the  sense  of 
conformity  in  this  vow,  cannot  be  construed  to  justify 
an  excess  in  the  services,  any  more  than  an  omission 
of  a  part  of  them,  how  can  these  novelties,  which  are 
in  fact  additions  to  "  the  worship  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,"  as  practised 
from  the  beginning,  be  justified  to  a  good  conscience? 
In  the  16th  canon  of  1603,  of  the  English  Church, 
it  is  ordered,  that,  "  in  the  whole  Divine  service,  the 
order,  form,  and  ceremonies  shall  be  duly  observed, 
as  they  are  set  down  and  prescribed  in  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  without  any  omission  or  altera- 
tion;'' also  in  the  14th  canon,  ^'■without  diminishing 
or  adding  any  thing  in  the  matter  or  form  thereof. '^ 
Although  this  is  not  binding  on  the  American  Church, 
it  doubtless  involves  a  principle  common  to  both 
Churches,  and  applies  to  the  subject  now  under  con- 
sideration. "  Without  alteration,''  which  of  course 
includes  additions."^ 

*  If  these  novelties  should  go  on  increasing,  as  they  hare  done 
of  late  in  some  of  our  Churches,  approximating  gradually  and 
apparently  towards  a  Mass  service,  the  time  may  come,  "nhen  the 


236  THE   NOVELTIES. 

We  may  be  wrong,  l3ut  "we  have  feared,  that  this 
willingness,  in  some  portions  of  our  Church,  to  adopt 
new  ceremonies,  such  as  are  used  in  the  Church  of 
Rome,  might  gradually  lead  those  who  practise  them 

following  injunction  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  under  Edward  the 
Sixth,  or  something  like  it,  may  pertinently  apply  elsewhere,  and 
in  a  quarter  little  to  have  been  expected  ; — "  That  no  minister  do 
counterfeit  the  popish  Mass,  in  kissing  the  Lord's  board  ;  wash- 
ing his  hands  or  fingers  after  the  Gospel,  or  the  receipt  of  the 
holy  communion  ;  shifting  the  book  from  one  jilace  to  another ; 
holding  up  the  forefingers  ;  laying  down  and  licking  the  chalice 
after  communion  ;  blessing  his  eyes  with  the  sudarie  thereof,  or 
patten,  or  crossing  his  head  with  the  same ;  holding  his  forefin- 
gers and  thumbs  joined  together,  toward  the  temples  of  his  head, 
after  the  receiving  of  the  sacx'ament ;  breathing  on  the  bread  or 
chalice ;  saying  the  Agnus  before  the  communion  ;  showing  the 
sacrament  openly  before  the  distribution,  or  making  any  eleva- 
tion thereof ;  ringing  the  sacrying  bell,  or  setting  any  light 
upon  the  Loi'd's  board ;  and  finally,  that  the  minister,  in  the  time 
of  the  holy  communion,  do  use  only  the  ceremonies  and  gestures 
appointed  by  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  none  other,  so  that 
there  do  not  appear  in  them  any  counterfeiting  of  the  popish 
Mass."  "What,"  says  Bishop  Burnet,  (Preface  to  Part  II.) 
"  can  we  think  of  the  superstition  and  idolati-y  of  all  the 
pomp  of  the  Roman  worship,  but  that,  by  these  things  the 
people  are  to  be  kept  up  in  a  gross  notion  of  religion,  as 
a  splendid  business  and  that  the  priests  have  a  trick  of  sav- 
ing them  ?  AVhat  can  we  think  of  that  constellation  of  pro- 
digies in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  but  tliat  it  is  an  art  to 
bring  the  world  by  wholesale  to  renounce  their  reason  and 
sense,  and  to  have  the  most  wonderful  veneration  for  a  sort  of 
men,  who  can  with  a  woi"d  perform  the  most  astonishing  thing 
that  ever  was."  Again,  says  the  Bishop,  (in  his  Preface  to  Part 
III.)  "The  opinions  of  the  sacrament's  being  an  expiatory  sacri- 
fice, of  the  necessity  of  secret  confession  and  absolution,  and  of 
the  authoi'ity  of  the  Church,  were  the  foundations  of  popery,  and 
the  seminal  principles,  out  of  which  that  mass  of  corruption  was 
formed." 


THE   NOVELTIES.  237 

into  the  atmosphere  of  that  Church,  till  they  should 
begin  to  entertain  feelings  of  friendly  regard  for  the 
Papal  Communion,  and  ultimately  go  over.  Has  not 
that  been  precisely  the  history  of  the  late  defections 
from  the  Church  of  England,  and  from  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  to  the  Church  of  Rome  ?  And  is 
there  not  a  philosophy  in  it,  explained  by  the  intro- 
duction of  these  novelties  ?  Uniform  sequences, 
resulting  from  given  antecedents,  are  the  best  evi- 
dences v^e  have  of  the  connection  of  cause  and  effect. 
The  moment  the  American  Episcopal  Church  intro- 
duces the  histrionic  arts  into  her  services,  she  enters 
a  field  foreign  to  her  appropriate  domain,  and  is 
treading  on  the  ground  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  By 
what  easy  and  imperceptible  degrees  does  the  human 
mind,  once  adrift  from  its  home,  glide  from  one  stage 
of  change  to  another,  till  it  is  lost !  Such,  precisely, 
if  we  mistake  not,  has  been  the  history  of  the  late 
defections  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  from  the  Protest- 
ant Churches  of  England  and  of  the  United  States. 
They  begin  with  new  ceremonies,  gradually  acquire 
a  taste  for  them,  and  go  on  from  one  stage  to 
another,  till  they  are  lost !  This,  we  think,  will  be 
found  to  be  history ;  and  is  it  not  instructive — 
admonitory  ?  * 

«-  The  late  denouement  of  Bishop  Ives'  doings  in  North  Carolina, 
is  directly  in  point  here.  There  we  have  the  chapter  concluded, 
■with  the  legitimate  end  of  these  practices.  The  notable  history 
of  Vallee  Crucis,  and  the  somewhat  less  notable  affair  of  the  Or- 
der of  the  Holy  Cross,  of  which  Bishop  Ives  was  the  Superior, 
setting  himself  up,  as  we  have  upderstood,  above  all  authority 
of  the  Church,  so  that  his  orders  to  the  members  under  him, 
should  be  paramount  to  Episcopal  authority  in  any  diocese  of  the 


238  THE   NOVELTIES. 

We  have  never  heretofore  had  any  scruple  in 
calling  the  Communion  table  an  Altar,  because,  per- 
haps, we  forgot,  that  words  are  sometimes  things, 
and  because  we  regarded  it  as  an  innocent  metaphor. 
But  if,  indeed,  there  is  a  philosophy  in  it,  gradually 
leading  the  minds  of  those  who  use  it,  to  entertain 
the  idea  of  a  real  sacrifice,  not  unlike  that  inculcated 
by  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and  if  it  is  to 
be  used  as  a  stepping  stone  to  the  revival  of  an  error 
of  the  Church  of  Home  so  distinctly  marked  and 
renounced  in  the  Protestant  Reformation,  we  should 
pause  in  such  an  application  of  this  term.  It  will  be 
seen,  in  the  injunction  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  to 
his  clergy,  given  in  a  note,  page  236,  that  he  calls  it 
"the  Lord's  board,"  meaning  table,  doubtless,  as 
board  is  an  ancient  name  for  a  festal  table,  or  a  table 
of  hospitality.  The  Bishop  evidently  abstained  from 
using  the  term  Altar,  as  being  a  Papal  denomination.* 

Protestant  Episcopal  Churcli  in  tlie  United  States,  are  an  instruc- 
tive comment  on  the  tendency  of  these  new  measures.  We  learn 
from  V  Univers,  a  Roman  Catholic  paper  published  at  Paris,  that 
Bishop  Ives  had  been  for  many  months  before  he  went  to  Rome, 
a  penitent  at  the  confessional  of  Dr.  Forbes,  of  New  York,  and  in 
communication  with  Archbishop  Hughes.  What  other  revelations 
are  yet  to  be  made  of  his  plan  of  union  between  the  Churches  of 
Rome,  of  England,  and  of  the  United  States,  we  know  not.  It  is 
sufficient  here  to  remark,  that  all  these  doings  began  with  the 
introduction  of  the  novelties  now  under  consideration,  and  went 
on  from  step  to  step  to  their  consummation  in  the  Bishop's  con- 
necting himself  with  the  Church  of  Rome.  Some  of  his  former 
presbyters  had  preceded  him,  and  one  went  with  him.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  will  be  the  end  of  it. 

*  The  woi'd  Altar,  as  applied  to  the  Communion  table,  is  no 
where  used  in  our  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  except  in  the  Office 


THE   NOVELTIES.  239 

Doubtless  all  Protestant  Churchmen  would  agree, 
that  a  sacrament  is  invisibiUs  gratise  visihilis  forma, 
a  visible  sign  of  invisible  grace ;  and  this,  perhaps, 
is  as  good  a  definition  as  could  be  given,  in  so  few 
words.  It  is,  certainly,  one  of  the  oldest,  and  most 
universally  received.  But  all  Protestant  Churches — 
decidedly  the  Church  of  England  and  the  American 
Episcopal  Church — are  understood  to  have  taken  up 
their  position  on  the  other  side  of  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation.  Both  of  the  Churches  above 
named,  say,  in  their  Articles  of  religion  :  "  The  sa- 
crifices of  Masses,  in  which  it  was  commonly  said, 
that  the  priests  did  ofier  Christ  for  the  quick  and  the 
dead,  to  have  remission  of  pain  or  guilt,  were  blas- 
phemous fables,  and  dangerous  deceits."  Also 
both  say:  "Transubstantiation,  or  the  change  of 
the  substance  of  bread  and  wine,  in  the  Supper  of 
the  Lord,  cannot  be  proved  by  Holy  Writ."  The 
Irish  Protestant  Church  says :  "  It  is  repugnant  to 
plain  testimonies  of  Scripture,  overthroweth  the  na- 
ture of  a  sacrament,  and  hath  given  occasion  to  most 
gross  idolatry,  and  manifold  superstitions ;"  the 
words  in  italics  being  so  much  more  than  our  18th 
Article.  This  question,  more  than  any  other,  per- 
haps, may  be  said  to  have  constituted  the  nucleus 
of  the  controversy  at  the  Reformation.  It  was 
certainly   most    prominent   among    the    theological 

of  Institution ;  and  that  Office  is  prescribed  as  one  that  may  be 
used  on  the  condition  specified  in  tlie  4th  Section  of  the  30th 
Canon,  and  not  as  one  that  shall  be  used. 


240  THE   NOVELTIES. 

questions  in  debate  at  that  time,  and  it  was  regarded 
on  Loth  sides  as  most  vital.  The  symbolical  repre- 
sentation, or  sacramental  memorial,  of  the  sacrifice 
of  Christ  in  the  Euchai'ist,  as  understood  by  all 
Protestants,  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  real 
sacrifice  claimed  by  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation ; 
and  the  partaking  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  in 
"a  heavenly  and  spiritual  manner,  by  faith,"  as  our 
18th  Article  hath  it,  is  also  very  different  from  par- 
taking of  "  the  natural  and  self-same  body  and  blood 
of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  suffered  on  the  Cross,"  as  the  pa- 
pists have  it.  The  Protestant  participation  in  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  by  faith  in  Christ  himself;  whereas, 
the  participation  of  papists  is.  by  faith  in  the  dogma 
of  transubstantiation.  The  former  act  is  spiritual, 
and  capable  of  being  defended  by  reason ;  whereas, 
the  latter  contradicts  the  senses,  and  always  presents 
an  absurdity,  incapable  of  being  entertained  by  a 
reasonable  mind. 

The  historical  origin  of  these  novelties  is  doubtless 
as  follows: — Any  one  acquainted  with  the  history 
of  the  English  Reformation,  must  have  observed  the 
extreme  dijQficulty  then  experienced  in  laying  aside 
Avhat  were  regarded  by  the  Reformers  as  objection- 
able usages. and  ceremonies;  and  many  of  them  were 
for  a  long  time,  even  for  ages,  retained.  Very  little 
progress  was  made,  in  this  particular,  under  Henry 
the  Eighth.  Under  Edward  the  Sixth,  much  of  this 
part  of  Reform  was  accomplished  ;  but  much  of  it 
also  remained  unaccomplished.  Elizabeth  was  a 
great   stickler   for   the   old    ceremonies,    though   a 


THE   NOVELTIES.  241 

decided  Protestant ;  and  under  her  reign,  and  on 
this  account,  arose  the  great  schism  of  Noncon- 
formity, the  effects  of  which  rest  on  the  Church  of 
Enghind,  as  an  incubus,  to  this  day.  This  spirit 
of  Nonconformity  came  to  a  crisis  under  Charles 
the  First,  and  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Commonwealth.  Though  the  Restoration  came  in 
with  a  flourish  of  victory,  as  a  political  change,  there 
was  naturally  a  subdued  temper  as  to  the  demands 
for  conformity  to  the  objectionable  usages  of  the 
Church.  By  the  time  that  the  American  Revolution 
arrived,  the  Church  of  England  had  chiefly  laid 
aside  the  histrionic  ceremonies  and  other  objection- 
able customs  which  were  inherited  from  the  Church 
of  Rome,  and  which  had  been  the  occasion  of  such 
infinite  disaster  to  the  State,  as  well  as  to  the 
Church.  If  these  ceremonies  could  never  be  endured 
by  the  people  of  England,  much  less  were  they 
adapted  to  the  genius  of  the  American  people ;  and 
if  the  Church  of  England  could  never  rest  satisfied, 
till  she  had  got  rid  of  them,  it  Avould  be  strange, 
indeed,  if  the  American  Episcopal  Church  should 
readopt  them !  And  yet,  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
these  are  precisely  the  things  which  it  is  now 
proposed  to  introduce  into  the  American  Church !  - 

It  can  scarcely  be  other  than  pertinent  to  our 
general  purpose,  to  ask,  in  some  place — and  it  may 
as  well  perhaps  be  done  here — if  it  is  not  a  question 
of  considerable  moment  to  the  Church,  whether  her 
candidates  for  orders,  in  our  Theological  Seminaries, 
are  being  instructed  and  trained  in  the  principles  of 
the   Protestant  Episcopal   Church   in    the    United 

21 


242  THE   XOVELTIES. 

States  ?  We  do  not  raise  this  question  as  a  reflection 
in  any  quarter,  but  as  a  matter  of  right  and  duty  in 
the  present  state  of  things.  The  character  of  the 
ministers  of  the  Church  will  depend  upon  their 
training  at  the  schools.  The  times  demand,  not 
only  well  instructed,  but  vigorous  men  for  this  high 
calling — men  that  will  command  the  respect  of  the 
people  for  their  manly  as  well  as  for  their  Christian 
character.  It  is,  wc  think,  a  mistake  to  suppose, 
that  the  American  people  can  be  entertained,  or 
satisfied,  with  the  niceties  and  exactitudes  of  unac- 
customed ceremonies  in  religion,  however  they  may 
require  both  decency  and  order.  They  know  that 
the  great  and  lofty  themes  of  religion  are  too  great 
and  too  lofty  to  be  mixed  up  with  practices  which  a 
child  might  enact  as  well  as  a  man,  and  which 
require  but  a  low  degree  of  histrionic  talent  for 
their  execution.  The  instincts  of  human  nature 
determine,  without  pause,  that  a  mind  which  can  be 
occupied  with  mere  ceremony  as  a  study,  and  which 
can  devote  itself  to  practise  it  secundjtm  artem,ic- 
cannot  be  burdened  with  any  very  weiglity  matter, 
or  be  the  storehouse  of  manly  and  vigorous  thought. 
There  is  so  little  affinity  between  Christian  theology 
and  the  enactment  of  a  part  addressed  to  the  eye, 
that  he  who  devotes  himself  to  the  latter,  can  hardly 
be  accomplished  in  the  former.  While  the  study  of 
the  former  enlarges  and  invigorates  the  mind,  the 
study  of  the  latter  almost  necessarily  tends  to  the 
opposite.  And  is  it  a  class  of  sound  theologians,  or 
of  superficial  artists,  by  whom  the  American  Episco- 
pal Church  is  to  be  served,  and  her  mission  fulfilled  ? 


THE   NOVELTIES. 


243 


We  have  no  space  for  such  a  considci'ation  of  the 
appropriate  duties  of  Theological  Seminaries,  as  the 
subject  suggests.  We  have  only  wished  to  intimate 
that  the  Church  is  entitled,  is  bound  to  know,  whe- 
ther her  candidates  for  orders  are  being  trained  for 
that  service  which  her  position,  her  genius,  and  her 
mission,  and  which  the  genius  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, most  require. 

We  cannot  conclude  this  chapter  without  some 
remarks  on  the  table  found  in  the  note  below,  which, 
on  account  of  the  source  whence  it  is  derived,  (the 
Church  Review  for  January,  1853,)  and  the  sanction 
there  given  to  it,  we  accept  as  having  been  carefully 
and  correctly  compiled.*  In  the  second  column  we 
have  the  increase  of  population  in  the  United  States, 
from  1790  to  1850,  for  every  ten  years ;  in  the 
third,  the  time  required  for  doubling,  in  the  same 
ratio  of  increase ;  in  the  fourth,  the  increase  of  the 
clergy  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  for  the 
whole  period,  and  for  every  ten  years ;  and  in  the 
fifth,  the  time  required  for  doubling,  in  the  same 


»  Comparative  Table,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Chapin,  of  Glastonbury, 
Counecticut: — 


TIME      r.ntiUIRED 

TIME      REQVIRED 

FOR  DOUllUXO  l.V 

A.  D. 

POPULATION  n.  S. 

HIE  SAME    RATIO 
OF  INCREASE. 

TUE   SAME   RATIO 
OF   IX CREASE. 

1790 

8,929,328 

190 

1800 

5,809,758 

28.4 

210 

9.5 

1810 

7.239,903 

27.5 

218 

26.2 

lS-20 

9,038,166 

81.0 

331 

19.0 

1830 

12,858,670 

29.9 

534 

10.3 

1840 

17,003,353 

30.5 

1026 

10.8 

1850 

23,263,498 

27.5 

1632 

16.9 

24.4  THE   NOVELTIES. 

ratio  of  increase.  The  number  of  clergy  in  1850, 
as  will  be  seen,  was  1632  ;  and  the  present  number 
of  parishes,  or  congregations,  as  stated  in  the  same 
article,  is  1678.  It  would  appear,  from  other  sources 
of  information,  that  the  increase  of  the  Church  has 
been  about  in  the  same  ratio  with  that  of  the  clergy, 
so  that  the  fourth  and  fifth  columns  may  also  be 
taken  as  a  measure  of  the  growth  of  the  Church. 
With  these  data,  Ave  proceed  to  remark,  that  every 
one  will  naturally  see,  in  judging  of  moral  causes 
in  operation  throughout  the  country,  that  nothing 
but  a  special  cause,  or  special  causes,  could 
have  put  the  increase  of  the  Episcopal  Church  so 
much  in  check,  as  from  1840  to  1850.  Going  on 
under  the  same  general  influences,  and  at  the  same 
rate  of  increase,  as  from  1810  to  1840,  the  rate  of 
doubling  opposite  to  1850,  should  have  been  not  more 
than  five  or  six  years,  instead  of  nearly  seventeen.  This 
is  truly  an  amazing,  an  alarming  falling  off.  There 
could  be  no  cause  for  it,  evidently,  but  in  the  inter- 
nal state  of  the  Church.  Every  thing  external  has 
been  even  more  favorable  for  the  increase  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  since  1840  than  before,  if  her 
internal  condition  had  been  equally  favorable. 

We  are  forced,  then,  to  come  to  a  scrutiny  of  the 
cause,  or  causes  ;  and  we  see  not  how  there  can  be 
a  dissenting  voice  on  this  question.  It  is  true  there 
have,  during  this  period,  that  is,  since  1840,  been 
some  serious  troubles  in  the  Church,  arising  from 
grave  judicial  processes  and  decisions,  and  the  diver- 
sity of  sentiment  on  account  of  them.  But  the 
effects  of  such  misfortunes,  unconnected  with  other 


THE   NOVELTIES.  245 

things,    are    naturally    transient    and    evanescent. 
They  have,   doubtless,   had    some   influence    in  this 
check  to  the  grovrth  of  the  Church  ;  but,  it  is  believed, 
they  will  not  account  for  more  than  a  very  small 
fraction  of  it.     Personal  matters,  be  the  individuals 
concerned  ever  so  elevated,  are  never  long-lived  in 
the  mind  and  mouth  of  the  public.     But  questions, 
involving  principles,  in  which  the  public  are  generally 
concerned,  are  enduring  and  influential,  to  the  extent 
of  the  parties  interested ;  and  it  need  not  be  said, 
that  the  questions  raised  by  the   Oxford   Tractarian 
School,  and  the  new  practices,  or  revival  of  old  ones, 
proposed  and  introduced  by  them,  have  not  only  pro- 
duced great   excitement,  and   entailed  a  lasting  con- 
troversy, in  the  sister  Churches  of  England  and  of 
the  United  States,  but  that  they  have  excited  the 
mind,  and  put  in  action  the  tongues  and  pens  of  the 
whole  religious  world,  both  in  England   and  in  this 
country — more  especially,  perhaps,  in  this.     It  was 
quite   enough  to  have  these  matters  to  cope  with 
in  the  Church  ;  but  the  action  from  witJiout  has  been 
even  more  noisy,  and  more  vigorous,  of  its  own  kind. 
The  enemies  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  this  coun- 
try, have  been  delighted  to  have  such  an  opportunity 
as  these  events  have  given  them,  to  renew  and  bring 
home  the  charge,  before  the  public,  of  the  affinities 
between  the  Episcopal  and  the  Roman  Churches  ;  and 
it  cannot  be   denied,  that  the  facts  of  the   case,  as 
they  appear  on  the   surface,  especially  to  those  who 
desired  occasion,  and  who  were  willing,  to  pervert  the 
truth,  and  make  the  most  of  such  appearances,  have 
given  great  force  to  their  argument.     The  Protestant 
21* 


246  THE   NOVELTIES. 

religious  public  of  the  United  States,  who  are  with- 
out our  pale,  have,  for  the  most  part,  been  made  to 
believe,  that  Puseyism  and  Romanism  were  about  to 
swallow  up  the  American  Episcopal  Church.  Hun- 
dreds of  young  men,  in  a  course  of  education  in  the 
colleges  and  theological  seminaries  of  the  country, 
who  had  meditated  application  for  orders  in  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  who  would  have  been  useful 
there,  have,  no  doubt,  been  startled  by  these  appear- 
ances, and  relinquished  their  purpose.  They  are,  in 
consequence,  lost  to  the  Church  forever ;  and  hundreds 
more  of  the  same  class,  will,  doubtless,  be  influenced 
in  the  same  manner,  to  the  same  result,  before  all 
occasion  of  these  apprehensions  shall  have  ceased. 
All  these  would  naturally  desire  to  serve  in  the  min- 
istry of  the  Episcopal  Church,  as  it  tvas ;  but  they 
are  afraid  of  it,  as  it  now  is.  They  are  Protestants, 
and  fear  to  come  in  contact  with  any  thing  that  looks 
like  Romanism.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Protestant  world 
around,  the  Episcopal  Church  has  lost  standing,  rep- 
utation, confidence,  by  being  supposed  to  be  inclined 
to  the  Church  of  Rome.  We  speak  of  fact,  and  not 
of  any  just  occasion  for  such  a  change  of  public  sen- 
timent. Previous  to  the  introduction  of  these  novel- 
ties in  the  Church,  she  was  rapidly  rising  in  general 
esteem,  and  scarcely  a  mouth  was  opened  against 
her.  The  rate  of  her  increase,  compared  with  that 
of  the  population  of  the  country,  exceeded  by  much 
the  increase  of  any  other  religious  body  in  the  same 
comparison.  But  they  who  sought  occasion  to  injure 
her,  found  it ;  and  they  have  never  been  over  scru- 
pulous of  the  truth  in  their  representation  of  the 


THE   NOVELTIES.  247 

facts.  They  have  magnified  and  perverted  them, 
till  they  have  made  a  wide  spread  and  deep  impres- 
sion on  the  public  mind  suited  to  their  purpose — an 
impression  which  will  require  an  age,  perhaps  ages, 
to  counteract  and  overcome.  If  there  be  any  truth 
in  facts  and  figures,  such  as  the  table  on  which  these 
remarks  are  founded,  discloses  ;  if  we  take  into  con- 
sideration not  only  the  great  falling  ofi"  of  the  increase 
of  our  Church  since  18-40,  and  not  only  what  she 
would  naturally  have  gained  unassailed  by  these  un- 
toward influences,  but  the  indefinite  amount  of  her 
injury  that  must  yet  long  time  abide  in  consequence 
of  them,  we  may,  perhaps,  fairly  conclude,  that  not 
less  than  fifty  years  of  her  legitimate  growth  must 
be  struck  from  the  records  of  history  by  the  opera- 
tion of  this  single  cause  !  WhatChurchman,  with  his 
eyes  open  to  these  facts,  would  dare  to  have  even 
the  smallest  share  of  this  responsibility  ? 

One  of  the  great  aims  of  the  polity,  liturgy,  and 
prescribed  modes  of  worship,  in  the  American  Epis- 
copal Church,  has  been,  and  was  from  the  beginning, 
to  secure  uniformity.  But  behold,  how  that  uni- 
formity has  been  disturbed,  broken  up,  by  the  intro- 
duction of  these  novelties  !  So  great  is  the  diversity 
of  practice  in  modes  and  ceremonies  at  this  time, 
that  a  clergyman  of  one  church  could  not  officiate  in 
another  that  may  be  found  in  the  same  city,  simply 
because  he  is  not  at  home  in  the  novelties — because 
he  does  not  know  how  to  conform  to  them  !  Nor  is 
there  a  uniformity  in  the  degrees  of  diversity. 
Some  have  gone  much  farther  than  others,  in  their 
departures  from  and  in  their  additions  to  the  estab- 


248  THE   NOVELTIES. 

lished  usages.  There  are  cburclies  in  connection  "with 
the  American  Episcopal  Church,  where  scarcely  a 
single  part  of  the  service,  except  the  reading  of  the 
lessons,  is  performed  according  to  the  old  accustomed 
modes ;  -where  the  service  is  intoned,  and  every  thing 
done  in  such  nevf  "ways,  and  Avith  such  additional 
ceremonies,  that,  if  the  spirits  of  White  and  Hobart 
could  descend  from  heaven  to  see,  they  ■would  never, 
■we  think,  -^^'ithout  advice,  recognize  them  as  belong- 
ing to  that  Church  over  -which  they  presided  while  on 
earth.  A  clergyman  of  twenty  years  ago  would 
have  to  go  to  school,  and  learn  to  practise,  before  he 
could  officiate  in  these  churches,  as  the  service  is  now 
administered. 

We  are  glad,  however,  to  be  able  to  say,  that  these 
novelties  have  not  reached  the  vital  parts  of  the  Church, 
nor  pervaded  her  structure,  nor  gone  out  to  her  extrem- 
ities. Her  worship  and  rites,  as  ordered  in  her  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  are  approyed  and  admired  by  all 
the  Christian  world  around  ;  as  ordered  there,  and  as 
interpreted  by  the  immemorial  practice  of  the  Church, 
they  necessarily  enforce  uniformity.  The  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  is  at  the  same  time  an  expression 
and  type  of  the  genius  of  the  Church,  and  her  genius 
is  illustrated  by  this  volume.  Through  this  medium, 
and  with  one  voice,  she  expresses  her  penitence  and 
her  faith,  her  kindness  to  man,  and  her  piety  to  God. 
By  this,  and  with  one  voice,  she  bows  down  and 
worships ;  and  by  this,  and  with  one  voice,  she  rises 
and  celebrates  the  praises  of  her  Redeemer.  Her 
prayers  and  her  anthems  go  up  to  heaven  with  one 
accord.     Her  faith  is  one  ;  her  baptism  is  one  ;  her 


THE   NOVELTIES.  249 

communion  one ;  her  litany  one ;  her  morning  and 
evening  prayers  are  one.  There  is  not  a  want  of 
humanity,  in  all  its  conditions  and  vicissitudes,  in 
time,  or  for  eternity,  which  is  not  there  expressed, 
with  one  voice,  before  the  throne  of  God ;  nor  an 
occasion  of  thanksgiving  and  praise,  which  does  not 
find  its  organ  there.  It  is  communion  on  earth,  and 
communion  with  heaven.  It  is  one  united  voice  of 
the  soul  of  man,  in  penitence,  in  faith,  in  prayer, 
and  in  praise,  going  up  before  the  throne  of  the 
Father,  in  the  name  of  the  Son,  by  the  help  of  the 
Spirit. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


AN   AMERICAN   CHURCHMAN. 


He  is  a  Churchman  in  our  esteem,  who,  holding 
the  Catholic  Creeds,  holds  to  Episcopacy,  and  to  a 
common  liturgy  for  all  the  public  offices  of  religion ; 
and  he  is  an  American  Churchman,  who  holds  also 
to  a  constitutional  Church,  independent  of  the  State, 
and  regulated  by  canonical  authority,  such  precisely 
as  is  "  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States." 

It  is  among  the  main  purposes  of  this  work  to 
show,  that  the  American  Episcopal  Church  occupies 
a  new  position  in  history,  different  from  that  of  any 
other  Church  that  ever  existed ;  that  it  is  a  position 
of  exceeding  interest,  in  its  aspects  on  the  future 
of  the  American  continent,  of  eminent  importance  in 
relation  to  that  future,  and  mediately  so  in  relation  to 
the  world ;  that  she  is  entirely  independent ;  that  she 
derived  nothing  from  the  past  obligatory  upon  her, 
except  the  Bible,  the  Creeds,  her  Episcopacy,  and 
certain  other  things,  which,  in  her  independent  cha- 
racter, she  adopted  from  choice,  and  made  them  her 
own  by  the  act  of  adoption ;  that  her  organization, 
and  consequently  her  structure,  are  in  their  adapta- 
tions,  different  from  that  of  any  other  Church ; 
and  consequently,  that  her  genius  is  different  from 
that  of  all  others.  From  these  and  other  points  of 
(250) 


AN   AMERICAN   CHURCHMAN.  251 

difference  in  the  character  of  the  Church  herself,  it 
■will  follow,  that  a  true  American  Churchman  is  dif- 
ferent in  character  from  all  other  Churchmen  in  the 
■world. 

Far  be  it  from  us  to  allow  it  to  be  supposed,  from 
any  thing  we  say  in  this  work,  that  we  have  a  con- 
tempt, or  even  a  disrespect  for  the  past,  as  history 
teaching  by  example ;  or  that  we  would  reject  any 
thing  proposed  for  adoption  in  the  Church,  because 
it  came  from  the  past,  even  though  it  came  from  the 
bosom  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  principal  part 
of  our  liturgy  came  in  that  channel.  We  have 
seen  many  good  and  wise  things  in  that  Church, 
Avanting  in  our  own,  which  we  should  be  heartily  glad 
to  have,  if  they  could  be  introduced  without  a  sacri- 
fice, greater  than  the  good  to  be  accomplished.  For, 
as  we  think,  the  greatest  usefulness  of  the  Church,  in 
all  her  steps  and  doings,  should  always  be  a  para- 
mount object.  We  have  abundantly  shown,  in  a  for- 
mer chapter,  that  we  consider  there  is  more  sound 
philosophy  and  more  wisdom  manifested  in  the  polity, 
ritual,  dogmas,  practices,  and  appointments  of  the 
Chur~ch  of  Rome,  than  has  ever  been  evinced  by  any 
other  society  on  earth.  Nevertheless,  as  the  main 
purpose  was  wrong  and  corrupt,  it  cannot  be  lawfully 
or  safely  imitated,  except  in  things  good  in  them- 
selves and  good  in  their  tendency,  and  when  they  will 
be  well  received. 

But  we  are  prepared,  and  we  design  to  show,  that 
there  is  no  poverty  in  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  as  to  means  of  good,  but  real  and  great 
wealth  ;  that  she  abounds  in  that  sort  of  wealth  ;  that 


252  AN   AMERICAN   CHURCHMAN. 

she  does  not  need  to  be  indebted  to  foreign  parts  by 
borrowing ;  and  that  by  borrowing  too  much,  and 
inconsiderately,  she  may  be  impoverished,  and  worse 
off  than  before.  She  has  wealth  in  her  position 
which  cannot  be  counted;  wealth  in  her  polity,  which 
is  as  rich  as  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  the  Ameri- 
can mind,  because  it  is  exactly  conformed  to  it ; 
wealth  in  her  ritual  and  customary  observances  ;  (who 
could  desire  more  of  either  ?)  and  wealth  in  her  lofty 
mission,  broad  as  the  American  world,  interminable 
as  the  career  of  that  world,  and  boundless  as  its  pro- 
spective amplifications.  It  is  on  this  platform  of 
Providence,  that  the  American  Episcopal  Church  was 
erected,  and  on  this  platform  that  the  American 
Churchman  stands.  We  do  not  mean,  that  he  is 
made  a  Churchman  by  it ;  for  no  accident  of  history 
can  make  a  Churchman.  A  Churchman  is  made 
such  by  principle,  in  all  that  is  essential  to  his  charac- 
ter as  a  Churchman  ;  but  he  is  modified  by  circum- 
stances. Where  can  the  man  be  found  in  all  his- 
tory, whose  character  was  not  very  essentially  and 
necessarily  the  creature  of  circumstances  ?  Was  ifc 
not  so  with  Saint  Paul,  and  with  every  one  of  the 
Apostles,  each  difiering  essentially  from  every  other  ? 
But  the  Apostles  were  all  good  Churchmen.  And 
do  we  not  find  characteristic  differences  in  Church- 
men of  different  nations,  and  of  different  ages,  along 
the  whole  line  of  Church  history,  down  to  this  time, 
including  the  present,  whose  Churchmanship  would 
never  be  drawn  in  question  ?  Is  not  an  English 
Churchman  different  in  character  from  an  American 
Churchman,  though  their  fundamental  principles  as 


AX   AMERICAN   CHURCHMAN.  253 

Churclimen  arc  precisely  the  same  ?  They  are  neces- 
sarily different  by  the  influence  of  circumstances ; 
and  it  is  not  a  mere  difference  of  personal  character, 
hut  a  difference  of  views  about  Church  polity,  and  it 
may  be  about  a  hundred  minor  things  appertaining  to 
the  Church,  the  sum  of  which  might  constitute  a  Avide 
difference  between  them^  as  Churchmen,  not  in  funda- 
mental, but  chiefly  in  economical  principles,  the  one 
as  an  English,  and  the  other  as  an  American  Chm'ch- 
man. 

It  is  an  economical  difference  chiefly,  if  not  alto- 
gether, that  distinctively  characterizes  the  American 
Churchman.  The  economy  of  the  American  Church 
polity  gives  a  distinct  stamp  to  his  character.  The 
general  economy  of  American  society  gives  another 
very  distinct  mark.  It  is  morally  impossible  he  should 
escape  from  it.  The  peculiar  position  of  the  Ameri- 
can Church  leaves  its  mark  upon  him.  The  repub- 
lican character  of  the  American  people  also  stamps 
the  American  Churchman ;  and  if  he  be  a  man  of 
enlarged,  statesmanlike  views,  he  cannot  fail  to  ap- 
preciate the  exalted  mission  of  the  American  Episco- 
pal Church,  with  such  a  field  opened  before-  her  by 
Providence  as  no  Church  on  earth  ever  had.  This 
above  all  things  will  stamp  his  character  as  an 
American  Churchman,  and  inspire  him  with  hope 
sufficient  to  "  forget  those  things  which  are  behind, 
and  reach  forth  unto  those  things  which  are  before." 
As  history,  the  past  may  be  interesting  and  instruc- 
tive ;  but  with  the  constituted  and  accustomed  machi- 
nery of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  he  will  not 
probably  see  the  need  of  borrowing  machinery  from 

22 


254  AN   AMERICAN   CnURCHMAN. 

tlie  past,  or  of  adding  to  the  accustomed  usages  of 
his  own  Church,  ah-eady  amply  furnished  for  the 
best  effect  on  the  American  mind.  lie  will  be 
chiefly  attracted  by  the  field  already  white  for  the 
harvest,  and  too  earnest  to  enter  upon  these  labors, 
with  such  instruments  as  the  Church  is  already  sup- 
plied with,  and  well  proved,  instead  of  resorting  to 
the  past  for  time-worn  and  long  rejected  tools  of 
doubtful  temper,  and  which,  in  the  handling,  may 
only  embarrass  the  work.  It  is  too  great  an  enter- 
prize  for  new  experiments. 

The  American  Churchman  stands  on  a  lofty  and 
proud  eminence.  He  can  look  on  the  past  history 
of  the  Church,  and  see  her  mistakes.  He  will  see, 
that  the  American  Episcopal  Church  had  a  good  be- 
ginning, and  that  she  has  made  good  progress ;  and 
he  cannot  fail  to  see,  that  with  her  own  armor  on, 
and  with  her  appointed  offices  of  worship  and  rules  of 
teaching,  she  has  only  to  go  forward,  and  win  the 
field — a  field  bounded  only  by  the  two  great  oceans 
— and  that  won,  still  to  move  onward  from  victory  to 
victory,  till  the  world  that  may  yet  be  unoccupied, 
shall  have  the  benefit  of  her  ministrations.  Such  is 
the  platform,  such  the  position,  and  such  the  charac- 
ter of  the  American  Churchman. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

LOW   CHURCH   AND   HIGH   CHURCH — LOW  CHURCHMEN   AND  HIGH 
CHURCHMEN. 

Theke  is  no  law  superior  to  custom.  Neverthe- 
less, the  customary  application  of  the  terms,  which 
stand  at  the  head  of  this  chapter,  is  open  to  some 
criticism.  The  benefit  of  common  or  popular  terms, 
applied  to  things  of  a  complex  character,  is,  that 
they  should  truly  represent  the  things  designated. 
Is  this  the  fact,  in  the  present  instance  ?  We  think 
not.  At  least,  they  do  not  convey  a  uniform  idea  to 
all  minds.  To  the  questions,  what  is  Low  and  High 
Church,  and  what  a  Low  and  High  Churchman  ? — 
scarcely  two  persons  can  be  found,  who  would  give 
the  same  answers.  The  popular  sense,  which,  per- 
haps, is  as  correct  as  any,  is,  nevertheless,  extremely 
indefinite,  and  more  or  less  inaccurate,  in  some 
respects  unjust,  as  a  description.  So  far  as  Low 
Church  is  taken  to  mean  an  Evangelical  party,  as 
opposed  to  a  party  assumed  to  be  more  attached  to 
forms  and  Church  principles,  it  is  obviously  both 
inaccurate  and  unjust,  inasmuch  as  nothing,  by  com- 
mon consent,  can  be  more  Evangelical  than  the 
Prayer  Book,  to  which  the  High  Church  party  is 
supposed  to  be  more  especially  attached.  And  yet 
this  distinction  of  Evangelical,  is  one  of  the  leading 
popular  notions  on  the  subj^ect.    If  the  distinction  be 

(255) 


256  LOW   AND    HIGH    CHURCH. 

based  on  the  comparative  amount  of  Evangelical 
truth  customarily  exhibited  in  the  preaching  of  the 
two  parties,  that  is  still  a  mooted  claim  between 
them,  and  presupposes  the  competency  of  the  tri- 
bunal that  renders  the  judgment.  There  may  be, 
and  doubtless  is,  some  occasion  for  this  distinction  in 
popular  phrase ;  but  discriminating  minds  will  be 
slow  in  admitting  its  entire  justice,  and  much  more 
slow  in  yielding  to  a  poplilar  current. 

So  far  as  Low  Church  is  understood  to  represent 
laxity  in  the  maintenance  of  Church  order  and  prin- 
ciples, no  party  in  the  Church,  surely,  would  arrogate 
that  distinction ;  and  in  the  common  path  of  the 
established  practices  and  usages  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  it  is  not  easy  to  get  far  out  of  the 
way,  though,  peradventure,  there  may  happen  to  be 
some  short  comings.  Let  him  who  is  without  fault 
cast  the  first  stone. 

So  far  as  High  Church  is  understood  to  represent 
the  novelties  elsewhere  considered  in  this  work,  we 
do  not  see  the  propriety  of  the  application,  however 
they  may  be  incidental  to  the  party  commonly  so 
designated.  These  novelties  are  not,  surely,  very 
lofty,  either  as  to  the  sources  whence  they  were 
derived,  or  as  to  the  dignity  of  the  position  which 
they  occupy,  theoretically  or  practically.  Theore- 
tically, they  appear  to  be  of  a  histrionic  character ; 
and  practically,  they  would  seem  ill  to  comport  with 
the  elevated  aspirations  of  a  devout  Churchman. 
Mere  ceremony  may  gratify  an  imaginative,  but  is 
poor  food  for  a  heavenly  mind.  "We  like  the  idea, 
if  the  terms  must  be  used,  that  High  Church  and 


LOW   AND    HIGH   CHURCH.  257 

a  'High  Churchman  shouki  have  something  truly 
lofty  and  heavenly  in  their  character. 

"Without  considering  the  various  popular  and  tech- 
nical meanings  of  the  terms  under  consideration, 
which  are  very  numerous  in  their  shades  as  they 
strike  different  minds,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the 
more  the  common  application  of  them  is  scrutinized, 
so  much  the  more  shall  we  find  occasion  for  criticism 
on  the  fact,  that  they  have  been  so  employed,  and 
that  they  must  necessarily  have  so  large  a  place  in 
common,  we  are  disposed  to  say,  vulgar  speech. 
They  who  arrogate  the  claims  of  high  Churchmen,  if 
they  mean  any  thing  other  than  American  Church- 
manship,  may  fairly  be  arraigned,  and  their  preten- 
sions questioned,  on  the  platform  of  the  American 
Church ;  and  they  cannot  avoid  the  dilemma  of 
choosing  between  a  Church  which  has  no  existence 
in  the  United  States  and  the  American  Episcopal 
Church.  For  we  have  elsewhere  shown,  that  the 
polity  and  usages  of  a  Church  are  vital  parts  of 
itself,  and  that,  the  polity  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  being  peculiar,  it  necessarily  requires  a  cor- 
responding character  in- an  American  Churchman. 

"We  suppose  it  will  generally  be  conceded,  that 
Catholic  Churchmanship  represents  common  ground 
all  the  world  over,  in  distinction  from  the  peculiar 
ground  which  Churchmen  occupy,  as  members  of  a 
particular  branch  of  the  Church  Catholic.  This 
common  ground  may,  we  think,  be  assumed  as  fixed, 
and  virtually  incapable  of  serious  controversy  as  to 
details.  A  Catholic  Churchman  ought  to  be  a  uni- 
versal currency.  There  is  nothing  high  or  low  in 
22* 


258  LOW    AND    HIGH    CHURCH. 

him ;  but  he  is  always  on  the  same  levch  The 
terms  high  and  low,  therefore,  can  never,  with  pro- 
priety apply  to  a  Catholic  Churchman,  as  such ;  but 
they  seem  to  imply  extremes  in  something  ;  and  it  is 
generally  allowed,  that  extreme  opinions,  on  great 
practical  questions,  are  neither  desirable,  nor  salu- 
tary. 

If  this  view  of  Catholic  ground  be  correct,  we  do 
not  see  how  the  terms  high  and  low,  in  application 
to  Churchmen,  can  have  any  other  than  a  bad  sense, 
except  when  they  shall  be  employed  to  describe 
American  Churchmen,  as  such.  Then  there  may  be 
a  difference  in  degree,  as  to  a  bad  meaning ;  though 
even  in  that  case,  both  may  be  objectionable  terms. 
If  it  must  be  said  of  a  true  American  Churchman, 
that  he  is  a  High  Churchman,  there  may  be  some 
virtue  in  it.  But  the  meaning  of  the  terms  would 
be  essentially  changed  from  their  present  use,  and 
in  some  cases  directly  reversed.  Nevertheless,  it 
will  yet  appear,  we  think,  that  the  only  proper  use 
of  these  terms,  if  they  must  be  used,  in  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  is  in  application  to  American 
Churchmanship. 

There  is,  unquestionably,  a  great,  a  wide,  and 
necessary  difference,  between  Catholic  Churchman- 
ship,  and  that  of  a  particular  branch  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  arising,  not  from  the  sacrifice,  or  even  the 
modification  of  the  former;  for  Catholic  churchman- 
ship  should  ever  be  maintained  as  an  integral  part 
of  tlie  latter.  It  is  the  polity  of  any  given  branch 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  which  makes  this  difference; 
and  it  may  be  so  great  and  so  comprehensive,  as  to 


LOW   AND   HIGH   CHURCH.  259 

be  more  apparent,  and  even  more  influential,  than 
the  Catholic  ingredients,  without  abating  from  the 
appropriate  influence  of  the  latter.  The  appropriate 
function  of  Catholic  Churchmanship,  is  to  unite  all 
sections  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  one  faith,  and  in  a 
universal  fellowship  ;  whereas,  the  appropriate  func- 
tion of  the  Churchmanship  of  any  particular  branch 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  is  to  be  most  useful  to  the 
people  among  whom  that  Church  is  called  to  minis- 
ter ;  in  other  words,  to  fulfil  its  providential  mission. 
This  is  the  principle  on  which  the  American  Epis- 
copal Church  was  founded,  as  a  new  branch  of  the 
Church  Catholic,  which  will  appear  in  the  history  of 
her  organization  ;  and  this  is  the  principle  on  which 
her  polity  has  been  formed,  and  grown  up  to  such 
magnitude  and  importance.  This,  generally,  is  the 
principle,  on  which  the  affairs  of  the  American 
Church  have  been  hitherto  administered  ;  and  it  is, 
ought  certainly  to  be,  the  governing  principle,  now 
and  forever.  Catholic  Churchmanship  is  of  course 
presupposed,  as  a  common  platform  for  all  the 
world  ;  and  as  a  platform  on  which  the  American 
Episcopal  Church  stands.  That  is  indispensable  for 
all  that  is  fundamental  and  vital  in  faith  and  order. 
But  the  polity  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church 
was  framed  expressly  for  adaptation  to  the  genius 
of  the  American  people,  and  of  American  institu- 
tions. It  is  the  Church,  in  the  shape  imparted  to  it 
by  this  polity,  that  presents  itself  to  the  American 
mind,  as  an  instrument  for  eff'ect  and  usefulness. 
It  is  the  American  Episcopal  Church  chiefly  under 
her  own  peculiar  form,  that  is  seen  inculcating  the 


260  LOW   AND   HIGH    CHURCH. 

doctrines  and  principles  of  the  Church  Catholic  ;  and 
only  so  long,  and  so  far,  as  the  American  Church  acts 
on  this  principle,  will  she  be  most  effective  and  most 
useful.  Catholic  Churchmanship  is  fundamental,  but 
American  Churchmanship  is  the  leading  and  chief 
instrument  of  good.  The  latter  is  built  upon  the 
former,  grows  out  of  it,  and  is  put  forward  for  effect. 
Let  no  one  pervert  our  words.  We  say  for  effect, 
in  the  purest  and  in  an  unexceptionable  sense  of 
the  terms.  Without  this  instrumentality,  the  effect 
would  be  trifling,  perhaps  nothing.  It  was  regarded 
as  morally  impossible  to  start  the  American  Epis- 
copal Church  anew,  after  the  Revolution,  without 
such  an  adaptation ;  and  the  genius  of  the  American 
people  is  still  the  same,  so  far  as  the  necessity  of 
this  adaptation  is  concerned.  Precisely  the  same 
prejudices  against  the  Church  exist  now  as  then, 
and  they  appear  in  the  same  shapes,  and  are 
expressed  in  the  same  terms.  Generally  speaking, 
indeed,  they  are  less  stubborn  and  less  formidable, 
and  that  chiefly,  if  not  solely,  because  the  operation 
of  American  Churchmanship,  based  on  the  American 
platform,  and  shaped  by  the  American  Church 
polity,  has  tended  to  subdue  them.  Let  our  bishops 
set  up  the  pretensions,  claims,  and  style  of  the 
English  bishops  ;  let  our  clergy  turn  their  backs  on 
the  present  and  the  future,  and  their  faces  to  the 
past,  and  hunt  up  a  ritual  from  the  dark  ages,  or 
any  other  age,  so  they  get  a  new  one,  and  as  they 
may  imagine,  one  more  imposing  and  more  attract- 
ive ;  and  we  should  fear,  that  all  that  has  been 
gained  by  American  Churchmanship,  would  be  lost 


LOW   AND   HIGH   CnURCH.  261 

by  such  a  departure  from  it.  Cliurclimansliip  is  of 
little  "worth,  if  it  does  not  go  into  all  practical 
matters,  and  like  Saint  Paul,  "  become  all  things  to 
all  men,"  to  gain  as  many  as  possible. 

And  here,  lest  we  should  not  find  a  better  place, 
and  the  subject  being  akin  to  the  above  remarks, 
let  us  notice,  for  a  moment,  the  want  of  uniformity 
in  the  official  signatures  of  our  bishops.  In  the 
General  Convention  of  1785,  it  was  "  Ordered, 
whereas,  the  bishops  of  this  church  will  not  be 
entitled  to  any  such  temporal  honors  as  are  due  to 
the  archbishops  and  bishops  of  the  parent  Church, 
in  quality  of  lords  of  Parliament ;  and  whereas  the 
reputation  and  usefulness  of  our  bishops  will  con- 
siderably depend  on  their  taking  no  higher  title  or 
style  than  will  be  due  to  their  spiritual  employments, 
that  it  be  recommended  to  this  Church,  in  the  States 
here  represented,  to  j37*0DzVZe  that  their  respective 
bishops  may  be  called  '  the  Eight  Reverend  A.  B., 
bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  C.  D.,' 
and  (that)  as  bishops  (they)  may  have  no  other  title, 
and  (that  they)  may  not  use  any  such  style  as  is 
usually  descriptive  of  temporal  power  and  prece- 
dence."*    This,  we  believe,  has  heretofore  generally 

*  We  take  for  granted,  that  the  plenary  authority  of  this  Con- 
vention will  not  be  denied;  more  especially  as  it  originated  the 
measures  for  the  revision  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  for  a 
Constitution  or  fundamental  law  of  the  Church,  and  for  obtaining 
the  Episcopate  from  the  Church  of  England,  all  of  which  were 
carried  on  and  consummated  from  the  original  action  of  this 
Convention.  The  entire  structure  of  the  Church,  and  of  its 
legislation,  was  based  upon  that  action.  Moreover,  in  a  selection 
ordered  by  the  General  Convention  of  1847,  of  acts  of  special 


262  LOW   AND    IltGH    CHURCn. 

been  observed,  by  consent  or  otherwise.  The  reason 
given  in  the  record  for  this  recommendation,  is 
characteristic  of  the  genius  of  the  American  Episco- 
pal Church.  But  we  observe,  of  late,  a  diversity  of 
practice  in  regard  to  this  matter,  or  rather  two 
different  modes,  one  as  above  recommended,  and  the 
other  being  simply  as  "A.  B.  of  C.  D."  What 
does  this  latter  mode  of  Episcopal  signature  mean  ? 
Does  it  intend  to  put  forward  a  pretension,  or  to 
assert  a  fact  'i  Certainly,  as  we  take  it,  the  f;ict  is 
not  so.  Although  our  dioceses  have  territorial  limits, 
generally  running  in  a  line  with  some  of  the  civil 
divisions  of  the  country,  we  do  not  understand  that 
the  jurisdiction  of  a  bishop  of  our  Church  is  over  all 
the  people  of  all  religions  and  of  no  religion,  within 
his  diocese.  If  such  a  doctrine  were  promulgated, 
it  would  doubtless  be  offensive  to  those  who  do  not 


intei-est  and  importance,  from  the  records  of  all  previous  General 
Conventions,  and  printed  in  the  Appendix  of  that  of  1847,  the 
first  acts  cited,  are  from  the  Convention  of  1785,  and  one  of  them 
is  that  which  we  have  given  above  in  the  text.  This  measure  of 
selection  fi'om  former  records,  in  1847,  originated  in  the  house 
of  bishops,  and  was  executed  by  a  committee  of  that  house,  com- 
posed of  bishops  Ote3%  Polk,  and  Whittingbam.  We  conclude, 
therefore,  that  the  recommendation  of  the  General  Convention 
of  1785,  touching  the  official  signatures  of  the  bishops,  will  be 
allowed  to  be  of  full  and  complete  authority.  It  is  true,  that  the 
committee  above  named,  went  out  of  their  way,  and  overstepped 
their  instructions,  in  citing  the  act  of  1785,  regarding  Episcopal 
signatures.  But  this  only  proves,  that  they  regarded  it  as  of 
interest  and  importance ;  and  its  being  ordered  into  the  Appen- 
dix of  the  Report  of  1847,  on  motion  of  bishop  Delancy,  seconded 
by  bishop  Gadsden,  proves  the  same  thing  in  the  mind  of  the 
mover  and  his  second,  and  in  the  mind  of  the  Convention. 


LOW   AND   HIGH    CHURCH.  263 

acknowledge  such  a  jurisdiction,  and  be  treated  with 
great  disrespect — a  result  most  undesirable.* 

Which  of  the  United  States  of  North  America 
has  ever  put  itself  under  the  care  of  a  bishop  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  or  of  any  other  Church ; 
or  which  of  them  has  invested  a  bishop  with  any  such 
jurisdiction?  What  law  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
has  done  this  ?  On  the  contrary,  there  is  a  standing 
recommendation  of  the  whole  Church,  as  seen  above, 
against  it.  We  think  it  is  equally  against  the  genius 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  concede  such 
a  claim,  as  it  is  against  the  genius  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church  to  put  it  forward.  By  what  law, 
then,  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  does  a  bishop  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States, 
subscribe   himself  oflBcially   as   bishop   of  a   State  ? 


*  We  observe,  that,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Convention  of  one  of 
the  Dioceses,  in  1844,  where  the  practice  of  the  bishop  was  at 
variance  with  the  above  cited  recommendation  of  the  General 
Convention,  a  motion  was  offered,  that  the  name  and  style  of  all 
Episcopal  signatures  upon  the  Journal  of  the  Convention,  should  be 
in  accordance  with  the  constitutional  and  legal  name  of  the  Church, 
to  wit,  'Protestant  Episcopal,'  &c.  ;  but  the  bishop  declared  the 
motion  out  of  order.  An  appeal  from  the  decision  of  the  chair 
was  taken :  but  the  chair  was  sustained.  It  is  possible,  if  the 
mover  of  this  resolution  had  taken  his  stand  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  General  Convention  of  1785,  that  a  different  result 
would  have  been  obtained  ;  for,  it  can  hardly  be  conceived  how  a 
motion  in  a  Diocesan  Convention,  so  precisely  in  accordance  with 
a  recommendation  of  the  General  Convention  to  that  body,  stand- 
ing unrepealed,  could  be  fairly  ruled  as  out  of  oi'der  ;  more  espe- 
cially as  one  of  the  standing  orders  of  said  Diocesan  Convention 
allowed  an  appeal  from  the  decision  of  the  chaii'. — [Hoffman,  pp. 
203  and  204. 


264  LOW   AND   HIGH   CHURCH. 

iBut  to  return.  It  must  be  seen,  we  think,  that, 
as  Catholic  Churchmanship  is  a  common  level,  there 
can  be  no  High  or  Low  Churchmen  on  that  ground. 
Where,  then,  shall  we  find  them  ?  We  know  very 
well  where  they  are  said  to  stand ;  but  we  have 
attempted  to  show  there  is  no  good  reason  for  such  a 
distinction,  in  such  cases.  We  should  heartily  like 
to  see  a  high  American  churchman,  if  that  means  a 
strong  and  sound  one.  That  is  precisely  the  kind  of 
Churchmanship,  which  the  genius  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  and  of  the  American  people,  and 
of  American  institutions,  requires.  Possibly,  it 
might  bring  down  some  of  those,  who  are  now  called 
high,  into  a  very  low  place.  For,  just  in  propor- 
tion, and  only  in  proportion,  as  a  member  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church  is  a  true  American 
Churchman,  is  he  entitled  to  be  called  a  High  Church- 
man, and  that  in  the  purest  sense  of  the  terms. 
!But  American  Churchmanship  should  be  exalted  at 
any  cost.  Nay,  it  needs  no  lifting  up.  It  stands 
high  of  itself,  and  needs  but  to  be  named,  to  com- 
mand universal  respect,  where  respect  for  it  is  of 
most  consequence.  The  American  Episcopal  Church, 
as  we  think,  stands  on  a  higher  eminence,  than  any 
branch  of  the  Catholic  Church,  since  the  days  of  the 
Apostles ;  and  that  eminence  is  composed,  first  of 
her  Providential  mission,  and  next  of  her  polity. 
She  commenced  her  career  with  the  true  Catholic 
faith  in  her  hands  and  in  her  heart ;  with  the  Catholic 
Creeds ;  with  an  admirable  liturgy  formed  at  her  hands, 
and  borrowed  from  the  mother  Church ;  with  a  ritual 
all  sufiScient ;  and  with  a  valid,  unquestionable,  and 


LOW   AND   HIGH   CHURCH.  265 

unquestioned  Episcopacy.  She  started  independent 
of  the  State,  as  a  pure  Church  of  Christ,  and  has 
maintained  that  position,  while  her  domain  and  her 
Episcopate  have  been  spreading  out  on  every  side. 
She  has  framed  and  built  up  a  polity  of  her  own, 
corresponding  with  her  character  and  position,  and 
adapted  to  the  genius  of  this  Western  world,  where 
God  had  planted  her.  While  all  other  branches  of 
the  Catholic  Church  are  embarrassed  by  unfortunate 
connections  with  the  past  and  the  present,  the  Ame- 
rican Episcopal  Church  leaped  by  a  single  bound 
from  all  such  ties,  carrying  with  her  the  Bible, 
Episcopacy,  her  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  erect- 
ing for  herself  a  system  of  self-government,  adapted 
to  her  wants.  Like  Minerva  from  the  head  of 
Jupiter,  if  a  Christian  may  borrow  a  figure  from 
heathen  mythology  for  such  a  purpose,  without  pro- 
fanation, she  sprang  forth  full-armed  ;  but  her  armor 
was  from  the- highest  and  purest  of  all  sources.  Rich, 
in  herself,  she  has  no  need  to  borrow.  All  that  was 
good  in  the  past,  in  antiquity,  she  took  in  her  hand 
at  her  beginning ;  perhaps  a  little  more ;  hardly  less. 
She  was  at  least  highly  endowed.  From  that  hour, 
it  is  her  position  that  claims  her  attention.  Nothing 
like  it,  in  interest  and  importance,  has  ever  occurred 
in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church.  On  the 
threshold  of  a  new  world,  teeming  with  immortal 
beings,  in  a  new  and  unwonted  state  of  society, 
where  every  thing  looks  West,  and  nothing  East, 
where  all  is  intent  on  the  future,  it  were  strange  and 
unnatural,  indeed,  that  she  should  turn  about,  and 
front  the  past,  to  gather  up  instruments  of  serving 

23 


266  LOW  A^'D  niGU  church. 

God  and  the  Church  from  the  dark  ages,  distrusting 
that  Providence  "which  had  called  her  to  such  a  mis- 
sion, and  furnished  her  "with  such* a  rich  store  of 
means  to  accomplish  it  —  of  means  so  admirably 
adapted  to  the  end.  When  her  ritual  was  so  perfect, 
rather  in  excess  than  -wanting,  considering  the  posi- 
tion she  occupied,  how  unstatesmanlike — if  we  may 
apply  such  a  term  to  the  ordering  of  Church  affairs, 
in  searching  for  means  to  fulfil  so  great  a  purpose — 
how  unstatesmanlike,  we  say,  we  may  add,  how  pre- 
sumptuous, to  seek  to  add  to  the  beautiful  and  appro- 
priate symbols  of  that  ritual,  practices  borrowed 
from  the  histrionic  arts,  when  all  the  world  must  see 
that  such  is  their  character  ! 

The  genius  of  the  American  mind  is  peculiar ;  it 
is  sagacious ;  and  its  most  profound  and  controlling 
ingredient  is  that  of  independence.  We  are  sorry 
to  say,  that  it  lacks  reverence.  But  there  is  no  help 
for  it.  Such  is  the  fact.  It  has  cast  aside  the 
opinion  of  Europe,  on  politics  and  religion,  and  it 
can  never  prevail  here  again  as  authority.  It  is 
slow  in  rendering  respect  to  the  past,  and  is  chiefly 
intent  in  pressing  onward  to  the  future.  And  what 
a  future  for  this  continent !  California  alone,  with 
a  population  as  dense  as  that  of  Massachusetts,  would 
contain  forty  millions,  and  nourish  them  too  !  What 
a  future  for  the  great  West,  (which  not  long  ago  was 
the  far  East,)  in  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  and  on 
the  eastern  declivity  of  Asia,  all  of  which  must  sooji 
fall  under  the  sweep  of  American  influence !  And 
can  the  American  Episcopal  Church  be  indifferent  to 
this  spectacle  of  the  future,  turn  her  back  upon  it, 


LOW   AND    HIGH    CHURCH.  267 

and  busy  herself,  occupy  her  studies,  in  collecting 
entertainments  for  the  eye  from  the  past,  and  bui-- 
dening  her  ritual,  already  sufficiently  unwieldly,  with 
the  obsolete  usages  of  ancient  times,  simply,  forsooth, 
because  it  is  imagined  there  is  something  more  splen- 
did and  more  imposing  in  them?  We  cannot  but 
feel,  that  the  mind  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  may  be  better  occupied  ;  that  her  grand  mis- 
sion is  different  from  this ;  and  that  her  genius  was 
not  wont  to  be  so. 

Since  Catholic  Churchmanship  cannot  but  be  one 
thing,  neither  high  nor  low,  we  would  rather  see  the 
superstructure  of  American  Churchmanship,  built 
thereupon,  conformed  to  the  past  history  of  the 
American  Church,  than  to  any  thing  else  past ;  and 
modeled,  rather,  for  the  future  exigencies  of  that 
Church,  than  to  see  it  regardless  of  that  great  mis- 
sion, and  seeking  to  entertain  a  lost  world  Avith 
histrionic  exhibitions !  No,  such  is  not,  and  never 
can  be,  the  character  of  true  American  Churchman- 
ship ;  and  there  is  no  other  but  American  Church- 
manship fitted  for  this  hemisphere.  No  other  belongs 
here.  The  age  is  past  for  any  other  to  be  in  the 
highest  degree  useful  here.  Some  other  may,  per- 
haps, furnish  entertainment  for  imaginative  minds  ; 
but  the  present  age,  especially  on  this  continent,  is  a 
matter-of-fact,  working  age — an  age  pregnant  with  a 
grand,  a  vast  future  ;  and  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  must  conform  to  its  demands,  by  the  display, 
and  in  the  use  of  a  vital  energy,  characteristic  of 
her  true  genius,  or  fall  forever  behind  the  activities 
of  the  religious  world  with  which  she  is  surrounded, 


268  LOW   AND    HIGH    CHURCH. 

and  lose  the  prize  of  a  victorious  career,  which  the 
hand  of  Providence  now  holds  out  to  tempt  her 
efforts. 

In  the  same  manner  as  the  founders  of  the  Amer- 
ican Episcopal  Church  deferred  to  puhlic  opinion,  in 
all  matters  indifferent,  so  is  it  ever  wise  to  do  it. 
Saint  Paul  was  the  loftiest  exemplar  of  this  char- 
acter. Opinion  is  a  law  of  human  society,  which  can 
never  be  disregarded  with  impunity,  whatever  cause 
we  are  engaged  in ;  and  in  nothing  does  it  command 
a  wider  scope,  or  greater  energy  of  influence,  than 
in  religious  affairs.  Nothing  can  prosper  in  this 
hemisphere,  and  produce  a  deep  and  lasting  effect  on 
society,  which  is  not  American,  either  in  origin,  or 
in  adoption,  or  in  form.  We  speak  not  of  princi- 
ples, but  of  the  garb  which  they  wear  ;  and  Church- 
manship  is  no  exception  to  the  rule.  Fanatics  may 
despise  the  doctrine ;  but  all  practical  men  will  be 
orced  to  respect  it. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  RELATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  TO  OTHER 
RELIGIOUS  BODIES,  AND  THE  COURSE  WHICH  HER  GENIUS  PRE- 
SCRIBES IN  THE  CASE, 

Although  the  American  Episcopal  Church  now 
occupies  an  eminent  position  among  the  religious 
bodies  of  the  United  States,  time  was,  during  the 
progress  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  for  some 
time  afterward,  when  she  was  not  only  small  in  the 
numbers  attached  to  her  Communion,  but  she  was 
forced  to  struggle  for  existence.  Having  at  last 
obtained  the  Episcopate,  and  a  regular  and  inde- 
pendent organization  as  a  Church,  her  growth  and 
ultimate  success  was  no  longer  doubtful.  Neverthe- 
less, she  always  has  been,  and  still  is,  far  outnumbered 
by  other  religious  bodies,  organized  and  acting  under 
the  claim  of  being  Christian  Churches. 

In  the  census  of  the  United  States  for  1850,  we 
have  a  statement  of  the  number  of  edifices  devoted 
to  religious  worship  throughout  the  Union,  their 
capacity,  cost,  and  the  sum  total  of  the  number  of 
worshippers  which  they  will  accommodate.  The 
whole  number  of  edifices  is  36,011,  and  the  average 
number  of  sittings  384.  The  total  value  is  esti- 
mated at  $86,416,639,  and  total  capacity  for  the 
accommodation  of  worshippers,  13,849,896.  Of  the 
number  of  edifices,  the  Methodists  have  12,467  ;  the 
23*  (269) 


270         RELATION   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Baptists,  8,791 ;  the  Presbyterians,  4,584  ;  the  Con- 
gregationalists,  Dutch  Reformed,  Lutheran,  and  Ger- 
man Reformed,  together,  have  3,528 ;  the  Papists 
1,112 ;  and  the  Episcopalians,  1,422.  There  are 
many  denominations  here  omitted ;  but  the  above 
are  the  chief,  and  -will  serve  to  show  the  present  rel- 
ative proportion  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church 
to  each  and  all  of  them.  The  Methodist  places  of 
■worship  will  accommodate  4,209,333;  those  of  the 
Baptists,  3,130,078 ;  those  of  the  Presbyterians, 
Congregationajists,  Dutch  Reformed,  Lutheran,  and 
German  Reformed,  united,  will  accommodate  3,705,- 
211 ;  those  of  the  Church  of  Rome  620,950 ;  and 
those  belonging  to  the  Episcopal  Church  will  accom- 
modate 625,213.  For  all  the  other  denominations, 
not  named  above,  the  sittings  are  1,558,221. 

We  claim  for  the  American  Episcopal  Church  a 
liberality  towards  all  other  religious  denominations, 
though  there  may  be  exceptions,  as  among  all  classes 
of  Christians.  A  Churchman  ought  to  be  too  well 
satisfied  with  his  position  and  relations,  to  envy 
others,  or  be  unkind,  either  in  words  or  conduct. 
Christian  courtesy  is  an  eminent  Christian  virtue, 
and  the  occasions  for  it  are  constant.  Two  thinjrs 
granted  to  the  members  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church,  and  they  ask  no  more,  as  conditions  of 
Christian  intercourse,  in  any  manner  and  to  any 
extent,  not  inconsistent  with  the  maintenance  of 
these  principles ;  and  these  are,  Episcopacy  and  a 
liturgy  ;  in  other  words,  that  Episcopal  ordination, 
unbroken  from  the  Apostles,  is  essential  to  a  valid 
ministry  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  that  public 


TO    OTHER   DENOMIXATIONS.  271 

■worship  should  be  conducted  in  the  use  of  authorized 
forms.  As  these  are  consdentious  principles,  Chris- 
tian courtesy  does  not  demand  their  surrender.  On 
the  contrary,  courtesy  requires  of  all  others,  that 
these  principles  should  be  respected,  in  all  their  ne- 
cessary and  practical  operations.  This  is  the  only 
comfortable  ground,  on  which  the  Christian  world, 
divided  as  it  is  by  a  variety  of  creeds,  can  live  in 
peace,  and  act  with  kindness,  one  towards  another : 
they  must  tolerate  each  other's  peculiar  principles, 
and  conscientious  scruples,  and  never  require  them 
to  be  sacrificed.  There  is  scarcely  a  religious  society 
in  the  Christian  world,  which  has  not  its  own  terms 
of  Communion,  and  some  of  them  are  very  rigid  and 
exclusive.  But  they  are  alleged  to  be  conscientious, 
and  ought  not,  therefore,  to  be  invaded,  or  molested, 
directly  or  indirectly.  The  close  communion  Bap- 
tists, for  example  : — who  thinks  of  finding  fault  with 
them  for  their  terms  of  Communion  ?  It  is  impossible, 
that  the  American  Episcopal  Church  should  give  up 
her  great  and  fundamental  principle  of  Apostolic 
succession,  as  she  holds  and  believes,  or  consent  to 
any  merging  of  herself  with  other  religious  bodies, 
which  would  prostrate  that  principle ;  and  it  would, 
we  think,  be  unreasonable,  and  a  lack  of  Christian 
courtesy,  for  others  to  require  or  expect  it.  The 
principle  prescribes  its  own  practical  operation,  in 
relation  to  those  of  other  creeds ;  and  it  is  impossible 
to  escape  from  that  course,  and  maintain  the  princi- 
ple. All  who  will,  can  easily  see  this  ;  and  seeing 
it,  they  are  self-condemned  in  their  claim  for  tolera- 


272         RELATION   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

tion,  anil  professions  of  liberality,  if  tliey  complain 
of  it. 

Although  the  use  of  a  common  liturgy,  on  occasions 
of  public  Avorship,  v\as  not  enjoined  by  the  same  high 
authority  as  was  Episcopacy,  nevertheless,  it  proceeds 
from  the  ordering  of  the  Church  in  general  Synod  or 
Convention,  and  as  such  is  regarded  as  obligatory. 
Tor,  if  the  State  is  the  ordinance  of  God,  much  more 
is  the  Church.  There  is  no  escape,  therefore,  from 
this  rule ;  and  Clnistian  courtesy  in  others  could  no 
more  require  the  sacrifice  of  this  principle,  than  oiL 
that  of  Episcopacy.  Grant  to  the  American  Epis- 
copal Church  the  full  scope  of  these  two  principles, 
and  their  necessary  and  practical  operation,  and  it  is 
all  she  asks  of  the  religious  bodies  and  denominations 
Avith  which  she  is  surrounded ;  and  surely,  none  can 
fail  to  see,  that  this  is  right  and  proper,  as  these  prin- 
ciples are  matters  of  conscience.  Such,  in  this  particu- 
lar, is  the  genius  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  ; 
and  from  without  these  walls  of  self-protection  and 
self-government,  she  Avill  walk  abroad,  and  shake 
hands  with  all  the  world,  who  will  grant  her  this 
toleration.  More  than  this  she  docs  not  ask,  and 
less  than  this  she  cannot  accept.  That  every  one 
should  be  permitted  to  maintain,  defend,  and  enjoy 
his  own  conscientious  principles,  is  believed  to  be  the 
common  ground  of  religious  and  Christian  inter- 
course, all  the  world  over,  so  he  does  it  with  courtesy 
and  kindness,  and  with  like  toleration  towards  all 
others. 

The  American  Episcopal  Church,  as  we  have  seen, 
rose  from  a  small  besinnino;  in  the  United  States, 


TO    OTHER   DENOMINATIONS.  273 

and  is  still  small,  when  compared  with  the  numbers 
counted  within  the  pale  of  some  other  religious  de- 
nominations. The  Methodists  are  in  great  numbers; 
the  Baptists  next ;  and  the  Presbyterians  and  Con- 
gregationalists,  nearly  one  in  faith,  are  also  very- 
numerous.  Near  akin  to  these  two  latter,  are  the 
Dutch  Reformed,  Lutherans,  and  German  Reformed. 
The  five  last  named  have  alwavs  maintained  a  high 
standard  of  education  for  their  ministry.  Their 
Colleges  and  Theological  Seminaries  have  done  them- 
selves and  the  country  great  honor,  and  some  of 
their  Divines  have  acquired  a  world-wide  fame,  from 
Cotton  Mather  and  Jonathan  Edwards,  down  to 
President  Dwight  and  Professor  Stuart.  The  reli- 
gious culture  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
hitherto,  has  been  chiefly  done  by  other  hands,  than 
those  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  ;  and  it 
would  be  equally  in  derogation  of  fact  and  justice, 
not  to  admit,  that  this  culture  has  been  of  great 
value  and  importance.  What  would  the  United 
States  have  been  at  this  moment  without  it  ?  But  a 
small  remove  from  heathenism.  That  was  a  noble 
heart  of  Saint  Paul,  that  could  say,  when  he  himself 
was  in  bonds,  and  could  not  go  forth  to  preach  the 
Gospel : — "  Some,  indeed,  preach  Christ,  even  of 
envy  and  strife.  .  .  AVhat,  then  ?  Notwithstanding 
every  way,  whether  in  pretence  or  in  truth,  Christ  is 
preached;  and  I  therein  do  rejoice,  yea,  and  will 
rejoice."  (Phil,  i.  15 — 18.)  The  American  Episcopal 
Church  was  also  in  bonds,  in  this  country,  for  a  long 
period ;  or  under  trials  tantamount.  Nevertheless, 
Christ  was  preached,  and  the  country  was  saved.     Is 


-274         RELATION   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL    CnURCII 

not  this  a  solid  ground  of  joy  ?  We  should  pity  the 
Churchman,  who  would  not  rejoice  in  it,  and  be  glad. 
It  has  erected  a  broad  and  strong  platform  of  religion 
and  good  morals  for  the  American  Episcopal  Church 
to  build  upon,  and  worked  out  abundant  materials 
wherewithal  to  set  up  her  glorious  edifice.  For  we 
shall  yet  have  occasion  to  see,  that  one  of  the  grand 
Providential  purposes  of  the  Mission  of  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  is  to  gather  in  and  absorb  the 
religious  elements  already  furnished  to  her  hand, 
under  the  culture  of  other  religious  bodies,  which, 
being  dissatisfied  with  their  position,  and  seeing  the 
beauty  and  order  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  will  ask 
to  be  admitted  within  her  pale.  By  much  the  largest 
part  of  the  additions  now  annually  made  to  the 
Episcopal  Church,  comes  in  this  way,  and  from  these 
quarters.  And  they  constitute  some  of  the  best 
members  of  the  Church,  because  they  never  come 
without  having  considered  the  subject,  and  learned 
the  reasons.  In  the  present  defective  mode  of  Cliurch 
education — pity  it  is  so — one  may  be  born  in  the 
Church,  and  grow  up  in  it,  without  knowing  why  he 
is  a  Churchman.  But  he  who  comes  froni  without, 
comes  for  reasons  which  he  understands,  and  which 
he  will  never  forget.  He  feels  an  interest  in  the 
study  of  the  subject,  and  is  sure  to  continue  it. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  said,  that  this  gathering  in 
of  such  elements,  is  "  building  on  another  man's 
foundation."  But  it  is  not  so.  The  American 
Episcopal  Church  is  not  of  a  proselyting  character. 
Such  is  not  her  genius.  By  acknowledging  the 
platform  of  religion  and  good  morals,  made  to  her 


TO    OTHER    DEXOMIXATIOXS.  2(5 

hands,  under  the  culture  of  other  religious  bodies, 
as  above  described,  Ave  have  proposed  in  fairness  to 
render  an  act  of  justice.  It  is  a  simple  matter  of 
fact.  But  Episcopacy  is  a  principle  which  "will 
command  respect,  and  the  liturgical  services  with 
which  it  is  usually  invested,  constitute  another  ele- 
ment of  its  moral  power.  But  the  naked  principle 
of  Episcopacy  is  potent  in  the  mind  of  the  Christian 
world.  It  claims  to  be  an  Apostolic  institution,  and 
is  forced,  by  this  claim,  to  say,  that  there  can  be  no 
other  valid  ministry  in  the'  Church  of  Christ.  The 
historical  evidence  is  strong,  and  is  not  easily  sha- 
ken ;  and  it  grows  stronger  by  scrutiny  and  by  the 
attacks  made  upon  it.  It  forever  fronts  the  opinion 
of  the  world,  under  the  same  steady  aspects  of  the 
probability  of  the  truth  of  its  claims,  shaking  the 
confidence  of  its  opponents,  and  gradually  subduing 
them,  as  time  rolls  on.  Nobody  denies,  that  it  is  as 
good  as  any  other  claim.  That  is  something.  It  is 
much.  And  if,  perchance,  it  should  be  better,  if  it 
should  be  all  that  it  claims  to  be,  it  is  a  very  serious 
thing  not  to  acknowledge  it,  not  to  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  all  its  benefits.  The  silent  and  inappre- 
ciable influence  of  such  thoughts,  is  continually 
acting  on  the  mind  of  the  religious  world  ;  and  it  is 
a  very  great  influence.  And  the  decent  order  of 
the  liturgical  services  of  the  Church,  enforces  the 
claims  of  Episcopacy,  till  both  together  become 
irresistible  in  their  effect  on  a  multitude  of  minds, 
waiting  for  satisfaction  as  to  the  best  and  truest 
way.  It  is  not  the  zeal  of  proselytism  that  makes 
Churchmen  ;  but  the  calm  and  dignified  aspect  of 


276         DELATION    OF   THE    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

the  position  and  attributes  of  the  Church  hei'self. 
Built  on  "the  foundation  of  Christ  and  of  the 
Apostles,"  she  presents  herself  to  the  world  with 
all  her  internal  machinery,  so  affluent  and  so  well 
ordered,  with  the  roll  of  her  commission  in  one 
hand,  and  pointing  to  heaven  with  the  other,  saying, 
"  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it."  There  is  enough 
of  poetry — such  poetry  as  the  Psalmist  and  other 
prophets  delighted  to  cultivate — in  her  position,  in 
her  ritual,  and  in  her  anthems,  to  satisfy  the  imagi- 
native ;  and  enough  of  apparent  truth  in  her  claims 
to  convince  the  sturdiest  thinker.  It  is  for  these, 
and  such  like  reasons,  that  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  draws  within  her  pale  the  religious  elements 
with  which  she  is  suiTOunded,  and  makes  converts 
of  the  irreligious. 

So  far  from  depreciating  the  calling,  the  sincerity, 
the  zeal,  the  usefulness — great  usefulness,  we  are 
willing  to  say — of  many  of  the  denominations  of 
Christians,  with  which  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  is  surrounded,  and  in  the  midst  of  which 
God  has  planted  her,  she  can  hardly  over  estimate 
the  importance  of  the  work  they  are  doing.  They 
have  their  own  sphere  of  action,  their  own  field  of 
duty,  and  they  are  doing  a  great  work.  They  do 
not  believe  as  we  do  ;  but  they  believe  in  God,  and 
they  believe  in  Jesus  Christ.  "What  then  ?  Not- 
withstanding every  way,  whether  in  pretence,  or  in 
truth,  Christ  is  preached ;  and  I  therein  do  rejoice, 
yea,  and  will  rejoice."  None  can  deny  the  good  they 
have  done,  and  are  doing.  It  is  apparent.  And 
trie  more  thev  do,  so  much   Q-reater  are  the  chances 


TO   OTHER   DENOMINATIONS.  277 

of  the  American  Episcopal  Cliurch.  Tliey  are  fur- 
nishing materials  every  where  for  her  to  build  up 
with.  The  silent  influence  of  her  claims  is  con- 
stantly going  forth,  and  constantly  spreading  abroad 
over  this  wide  field,  reaping  the  harvest,  which 
these  other  efforts  have  ripened  for  her  sickle.  She 
is  not  placed  in  a  heathen,  but  in  a  Christian  coun- 
try— a  country  that  has  had  a  great  deal  of  Christian 
culture,  done  by  other  hands  ;  and  notwithstanding 
she  has  a  missionary  character,  and  a  missionary 
duty  to  perform,  over  the  wide  world,  to  the  extent 
of  her  means  and  of  her  ability,  her  grandest  mission 
is  at  home,  and  on  this  Continent.  When  this  shall 
have  been  accomplished,  she  will  be  prepared  for  the 
wider  field  that  shall  open  before  her.  Her  claims 
to  a  Divine  commission  cannot  be  relinquished,  and 
she  is  bound  to  act.  She  is  bound  to  act  with 
decision,  with  zeal,  with  energy.  There  is  power 
enough  in  her  structure,  in  her  machinery,  in  her 
furniture,  to  make  the  world  bend  before  her  efibrts ; 
and  scope  enough  in  her  polity,  and  in  her  prescribed 
services  to  employ,  in  the  most  vigorous  exercise, 
every  talent  of  every  minister,  and  of  every  member 
in  her  communion.  It  is  her  genius  to  act  in  and 
by  herself.  She  can  act  in  no  other  way.  Her 
structure  is  firm  ;  her  machinery  is  fixed ;  her  ritual 
is  complete  ;  and  she  lacks  nothing  but  the  spirit  of 
her  high  mission  to  move  onward  to  conquest.  She 
will  never  envy  the  good  that  others  do,  but  rejoice 
in  it.  But  she  must  respect  the  precepts  of  her 
Divine  Master,  and  see  that  her  own  appointed 
work  is  not  neglected. 

24 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  LAITY  AS  A  COORDINATE  POWER  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  AND  ITS  EFFECT  AS  A  CORPO- 
RATE ELEMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH,  ON  HER  GENIUS  AND  MISSION. 

The  actual  position  of  the  laity,  as  an  authorita- 
tive power,  in  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  is  in 
suhstance  as  follows  : — In  the  vestries  they  are  always 
paramount,  with  power  to  choose  a  rector,  and  to 
manage  all  the  temporalities  of  the  parish.  The 
vestrymen  and  wardens,  who  constitute  the  vestry, 
as  a  corporate  hody,  are  chosen  by  the  people,  of 
whom  the  parish  is  composed,  in  such  manner  as  to 
be  the  people's  representatives,  so  that  the  parish- 
ioners constitute  the  basis  of  the  powers  of  the  ves- 
try. In  the  parishes  and  vestries  the  laity  are  su- 
preme, the  rector,  if  there  be  one,  acting  usually  as 
chairman.  The  corporate  powers  and  by-laws  of  ves- 
tries may  not  in  all  the  dioceses  be  uniform  ;  but  the 
influence  of  the  laity,  both  in  the  parishes  and  ves- 
tries,  is    always   paramount.*     The   Diocesan   Con- 

*  It  ■will  be  remembered,  that,  iu  England  there  is  no  regular 
delegated  body  known  as  a  vestry." — [Hoffman,  jh  270.) 

A  parish,  in  the  Church  of  England,  is  a  part  of  the  State,  and 
all  parochial  affairs  are  managed  by  state  authorities  ;  ■whereas, 
in  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  a  parish  is  a  component 
part  of  the  Church,  and  is  independent  of  the  State,  except 
so  far  as  to  be  indebted  to  the  State  for  corporate  privileges 
to  hold  property,  &c.,  as  required  for  the  administration  of  its 
temporalities. 

(278) 


THE    LAITY   AS  A  279 

ventions,  having  autliority  over  all  the  Churches  of 
their  respective  dioceses,  for  legislation  and  govern- 
ment, are  composed  of  the  clergy,  and  of  represen- 
tatives from  the  vestries,  in  such  manner,  that  the 
laity  always  hold  a  balance  of  power  against  the 
clergy ;  and  w  henever  the  two  orders  come  in  con- 
flict, or  for  any  other  sufficient  reasons,  provision  is 
made  for  a  small  number  of  either  order,  varying 
in  the  dioceses  from  one  to  five,  and  always  available, 
to  call  for  a  vote  by  orders,  by  which  means  each 
order,  if  disposed,  has  a  negative  on  the  action  of 
the  other.  The  authprity  of  a  Diocesan  Convention 
is  co-extensive  with  its  jurisdiction,  for  all  internal 
purposes,  so  far  as  it  docs  not  interfere  with  the 
legislation  of  the  General  Convention. 

The  General  Convention  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church  in  the  United  States,  is  the  supreme 
Synod,  for  the  general  purposes,  of  legislation  and 
government  over  the  wdiole  Church,  to  the  extent 
of  her  Communion  at  home  and  abroad,  and  is 
composed  of  two  houses,  viz. :  the  house  of  bishops, 
and  the  house  of  clerical  and  lay  deputies,  the  latter 
being  representatives  of  the  Diocesan  Conventions, 
not  to  exceed  four  of  each  order  for  each  Convention. 
On  the  call  of  the  clerical  and  lay  representatives  of 
any  diocese,  ordinarily  available,  if  desired,  the  house 
is  required  to  vote  by  orders ;  in  which  case  again,  as 
in  the  Diocesan  Conventions,  the  majority  of  the  lay 
vote  may  be  a  negative  on  the  vote  of  the  clergy ; 
each  order  in  this  case,  having  but  one  vote  for  each 
Convention  represented.  In  this  way,  as  will  be 
seen,  the  laity  hold  a  balance  of  power.    A  concurrent 


280  THE   LAITY   AS   A 

vote  of  both  houses  is  required  for  the  validity  of  an 
act  of  legislation,  by  -which,  as  will  be  seen,  each 
house  has  a  negative  on  the  action  of  the  other. 
The  practical  operation  of  the  negative  of  the  house 
of  bishops,  is  precisely  the  same,  as  if  the  three 
orders  should  sit  in  one  house,  and  vote  by  orders ; 
and  the  negative  of  any  one  order,  in  a  vote  by 
orders,  is  as  potent  as  that  of  any  other  of  the  three 
orders.     {See  the  Constitution,  f.  156.) 

Thus  it  appears,  that  the  laity  have  a  paramount 
power  in  the  vestries,  and  a  co-ordinate  power  in  the 
Diocesan  and  General  Conventions.  The  purpose 
of  such  an  organization  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church,  as  many  times  remarked,  or  suggested,  in 
this  work,  was  to  establish  her  republican  character, 
in  conformity  to  the  genius  of  the  American  people, 
and  of  American  institutions,  as  well  as  in  conformity 
to  the  primitive  constitution  of  the  Church  by  the 
Apostles,  when  the  first  synods  were  composed,  not 
only  of  "  the  Apostles  and  Elders,"  but  "  of  the 
multitude  of  the  faithful." 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  verified  by  history,  that  a 
government  of  priests,  unassociated  with  and  unas- 
sisted by  the  laity,  has  never  operated  well,  either  in 
pagan  or  Christian  countries.  There  is  doubtless  a 
philosophy  in  it,  which  might,  perhaps,  be  explained. 
First,  they  minister  between  the  present  and  future, 
between  a  known  and  unknown  world,  being  ex- 
pounders of  the  latter,  and  professedly  devoted  to 
the  revelation  or  teaching  of  its  secrets  and  myste- 
ries, all  which,  in  the  case  of  false  religions,  are 
made  and  shaped  after  their  own  liking,  and  to  their 


CO-ORDINATE   POWER   IN   TUE   CHURCH.         281 

own   purpose.     Next,    they   always    attach   to   the 
future  world,  as  is  proper,  a  paramount  and  supreme 
importance,   subjecting   all  present  realities  to   the 
hopes  or  fears  of  the  future.     They  are  not  men  of 
this  world,  hut  agents  for  the  next.     It  is  easy  to 
see  why  and  how  the  priesthood  of  pagan  religions 
have  always  made  slaves  of  their  devotees.     In  the 
same  manner,  the  priesthood  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
have  gained  a  complete  ascendancy  over  "  the  faith- 
ful," by  the  gradual  encroachment  of  their  inven- 
tions and  dogmas  regarding  the  future  world.     The 
hierarchy  of  Rome  now  governs  the  estates  of  the 
Church  in  Italy,  and  it  is  the  worst  government  in 
the  civilized  world.     Justice  on  earth,  as  a  right  of 
man  in  relation  to  his  fellow  man,  is   not  known 
there.    It  is  estimated,  that  there  are  at  this  moment 
a  hundred  thousand  men,  deprived  of  freedom,  and 
immured  in  the  dungeons  of  Italy— all,  directly  or 
indirectly,  the  result  of  the  policy  of  the  Church  of 
Home.     It  is  enough,  one  would  think,  to  muster  a 
crusade  of  all  Christendom  for  the  rescue  of  such  a 
large  portion  of  suffering  humanity.     The  govern- 
ment of  Charles  the  First,  was  chiefly  under  the  influ- 
ence of  priests ;  and  if  not  the  worst  that  England 
ever  had,  Avas   certainly  the   most   disastrous  to   the 
Church  and  to  the  nation.     But  the  time  is  past  in 
Christendom,  for  men  who  have  been  consecrated  to 
the  high  and  sacred  offices  of  religion,  to  govern 
states.     Could  a   Richelieu   again  preside   over  the 
destinies  of  France,  or  a  Wolsey  over  those  of  Eng- 
land?    "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world;"  and  the 
opinion  of  the  world  has  subscribed  to  the  doctrine. 
24* 


282  THE   LAITY   AS    A 

Wc  say  not  this  to  the  clispavagement  of  the  clergy 
of  the  Protestant  Churches  of  the  present  day,  than 
•whom,  generally,  especially  in  the  United  States, 
among  all  denominations,  there  is  not  to  be  found  a 
purer  or  more  worthy  class  of  men.  It  is,  perhaps, 
because  the  genius  of  the  American  people,  and  of 
American  institutions,  has  kept  them  in  their  proper 
place.  It  is  their  habit  voluntarily  to  keep  it,  and 
so  far  as  we  know,  they  have  no  desire  to  depart 
from  their  appropriate  sphere.  The  clergy  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church  are  not  only  content, 
but  well  pleased,  with  that  Constitution,  which  brings 
the  laity  to  sit  side  by  side  with  themselves  in  all  pub- 
lic councils,  and  which  makes  the  laity  a  co-ordinate 
power  in  the  legislation  and  government  of  the 
Church.  It  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
auspicious  events  of  modern  times — certainly  for 
the  Church — which  matured  and  consummated  this 
arrangement ;  and  more  especially  as  it  is^  now 
placed  beyond  all  possibility  of  a  reversal,  or  of  a 
retrograde  movement.  It  is  a  fixed  fact  in  the 
history  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  United  States. 

The  benefits  of  this  arrangement  are  numerous  and 
diversified.  In  the  first  place,  it  establishes  mutual 
confidence,  and  a  concert  of  action,  between  the 
clergy  and  laity.  The  latter  have  no  jealousy  of  the 
former,  and  can  have  none,  because  they  know  their 
own  position  in  the  Church  is-  one  of  paramount 
influence.  Next,  it  commends  the  Church  to  the 
confidence  of  the  American  people,  as  a  republican 
institutioil.  All  can  see,  that  such  is  its  character, 
firmly  and  immutably  established.     This  is  a  fact, 


CO-ORDINATE    POWER   IN   THE    CHURCn.         283 

and  a  relation  of  supreme  importance.  In  the  third 
place,  it  gives  to  the  Church  all  the  benefit  of  the 
best  and  most  useful  talents  of  the  laity  in  legislation 
and  government.  The  Church,  in  her  present  posi- 
tion and  relations  to  the  public,  and  to  the  world, 
requires  statesmen  of  the  highest  order,  in  the  form- 
ation and  extension  of  her  code ;  and  fortunately, 
she  has  such  men  within  her  pale,  who  are  also  found 
in  her  public  councils.  She  wants  jurists,  and  she 
has  these  of  great  eminence.  Hoffman  on  the  Law 
of  the  Church  (American),  is  a  most  seasonable,  able, 
and  useful  work.  It  is  profound  and  thorough,  and 
will  rank  among  the  highest  productions  of  ihe  class, 
in  this  or  any  other  country.  No  Churchman  in 
orders,  and  in  the  ordinary  pursuit  of  his  profession, 
could  have  produced  this  work.  A  layman  and  a 
jurist  only  was  equal  to  the  task ;  and  it  is  a  most 
important  production.  It  demonstrates  the  richness 
of  the  field  which  it  opens  to  view,  and  the  materials 
which  it  furnishes  for  future  guidance  in  legislation, 
will  not  only  be  appreciated,  but  greatly  useful.  It 
is  at  the  same  time  a  history  and  text-book  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church. 

It  is  no  libel  on  the  character  of  clergymen,  to 
recognize  the  fact,  which  is  undeniable,  that  they  are 
generally  less  practical  in  worldly  affairs,  than  lay- 
men. It  results  from  the  very  nature  of  their  pro- 
fessional pursuits.  Their  function  is,  to  think  and 
discourse  of  the  future  world,  more  than  of  the 
present.  They  are  more  sublimated  in  their  views 
and  feelings,  and  are  sometimes  found  highly  imagin- 
ative.    But  the  entire  legislation  of  the  Church  falls 


284  THE    LAITY   AS   A 

■within  the  province  of  practical  men,  of  statesmanlike 
views,  who  are  moi-e  commonly  found  among  laymen 
than  among  clergymen.  Laymen  are  indispensable 
as  a  balance  power,  often  as  a  check,  always  as  an 
auxiliary,  in  handling  the  temporal  economy  of  a 
religious  commonwealth. 

More  especially  is  the  position  of  the  laity  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  im- 
portant, in  its  bearings  on  the  Protestant  character, 
duties,  and  destiny  of  the  Church,  The  laity,  as 
members  of  the  civil  Commonwealth,  always  occupied 
in  that  field,  are  entitled  to  feel,  and  will  naturally 
take  up  their  position,  on  this  ground  of  controversy 
with  the  Church  of  Rome,  on  all  fit  occasions.  When- 
ever a  crisis  in  regard  to  this  controversy,  of  a  more 
or  less  iinportant  character,  is  presented,  in  the 
accidental  developments  of  the  Church,  or  of  general 
society,  it  will  naturally  be  expected  of  the  laity  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States, 
that  they  will  be  at  their  post,  stand  firm,  and  fight 
the  battle  through,  with  vigor  and  determination. 
They  know  too  well,  that  it  is  the  battle  of  freedom, 
in  Church  and  State,  all  the  world  over,  and  that 
every  demonstration  of  this  grand  enemy  of  human 
society,  in  whatever  form  and  wherever  made,  de- 
mands vigilance  and  oppugnation.  It  is  too  well 
known,  alas,  that,  by  means  of  recent  untoward 
influences,  noticed  in  Chapter  XIII.,  the  Church  of 
Rome  has  insinuated  herself  into  the  very  heart  of 
the  Church  of  England,  shaken  the  fabric  of  that 
Church  to  its  foundations,  disturbed  the  State,  and 
drawn  oflF  great  numbers  of  the  clergy  and  laity  to 


CO-ORDINATE    POWER   IN   THE    CUURCII.         285 

the  Papal  ranks.  The  same  influences  have  crossed 
the  sea,  and  found  their  way  into  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  Avith  a  similar  result.  Numbers 
of  our  clergy,  of  our  candidates  for  orders,  and  of 
our  laymen,  have  gone  over  to  Rome ;  and  at  last  a 
bishop !  Will  not  the  American  Church  be  advised, 
and  take  her  stand  in  this  crisis  ?  May  vre  not  look 
to  the  laity,  as  a  co-ordinate  power  in  the  Church, 
for  a  union  of  effort  against  these  encroachments? 
It  is  in  their  power  alone  to  arrest  the  movement. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  1529,  the  Diet  of  Spires 
passed  an  ordinance  designed  to  put  down  Luther 
and  the  Reformers.  Whereupon,  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  the  Marquis  of  Brandenburg,  the  Langrave 
of  Hesse,  and  the  three  Dukes  of  Lunenburg,  in  all 
six  princes  of  the  Empire,  and  fourteen  representa- 
tives of  imperial  cities,  all  laymen,  made  their  solemn 
Protest  against  this  ordinance ;  whence  the  name 
of  Protestants.  It  was  the  action  of  laymen,  that 
gave  name  to  this  grand  column  of  Christendom — to 
this  mighty  host  of  brave  hearts,  devoted  to  the 
liberties  of  mankind,  both  in  Church  and  State. 
Thanks  to  God,  we  believe  there  is  a  reliable  virtue 
for  such  a  crisis,  in  the  hearts  of  the  laity  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church.  If  needs  be,  we  doubt 
not,  they  would  re-assert  the  solemn  Protest  of  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  and  of  his  associates,  as  made  in 
1529,  the  form  of  which  would  naturally  be  against 
the  introduction  and  progress  of  Romanism  in  the 
Church  of  which  they  are  members. 

We  observe  the  signs  of  another  interesting  move- 
ment towards  a  Reformation  in  the  Papal  Church  of 


286  THE   LAITY   AS   A 

Germany,  not  dissimilar  to  that  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  headed  by  John  Baptist  Ilirscher,  D.  D., 
Dean  of  the  Metropolitan  Church  of  Freiburg,  Breis- 
gau,  and  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic University  of  that  city.  He  is  a  voluminous 
writer  of  great  repute  in  Germany.  In  1849  he 
published  a  brochure,  entitled  "  The  State  of  the 
Church,"  "which  has  been  translated  by  Rev.  Arthur 
C.  Coxe,  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  published  in  London, 
1852,  under  the  title  of  ^^  Sympathies  of  the  Conti- 
nent; or,  Proposals  for  a  Neiv  Reformation,'"  with 
an  Introduction  by  the  translator.  The  following 
are  some  of  Dr.  Hirscher's  views  on  the  duty  and 
importance  of  associating  the  laity  in  the  counsels, 
legislation,  and  government  of  the  Church : — 

"  In  civil  matters,  to  what  purpose  is  it,  where 
only  princes  hold  a  Congress,  and  make  their  own 
resolves  ?  It  is  a  good  beginning,  and  an  indispen- 
sable one  ;  but  they  remain  powerless  and  divided, 
unless  the  people  will  stand  by  them,  and  give  them 
their  acquiescence,  and  if  need  be  their  active  sup- 
port. It  is  precisely  so  with  such  a  Synod  of 
Bishops.  It  is  ineifectual  and  powerless,  unless  the 
clergy  and  laity  bear  their  part  in  it.  .  .  .  If  we 
take  up  the  New  Testament,  we  find  that,  in  primi- 
tive times,  the  question,  to  whom  it  belongs  finally 
to  decide  and  to  conclude  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church, 
was  not  as  yet  apparently  opened,  and  that,  in  every 
discussion,  the  ruling  principle  was  that  of  the  com- 
munity, that  of  the  brotherhood,  that  which  gave  to 
every  existing  faculty  the  privilege  of  cooperation. 
Thus  it  is  neither  Peter,  nor  the  Eleven  united,  who 


CO-ORDTXATE    POWER    OF   THE    CHURCn.        287 

nominate  the  Apostle  to  succeed  in  the  place  of 
Judas.  Peter  desires  the  assistance  of  the  faithful, 
in  proposing  worthy  men,  among  whom  the  lot 
should  designate  whom  the  Lord  had  chosen.  Nor 
is  it  again  the  Apostles  alone  who  give  deacons  to 
the  congregation  ;  the  community  itself  chooses  them, 
and  presents  them  for  the  imposition  of  hands. 
When  the  fugitives  of  Jerusalem  are  spread  abroad 
in  Phoenicia,  in  Cyprus,  and  in  Antioch,  and  when, 
in  this  last  named  city,  a  multitude  of  the  inhabi- 
tants are  converted  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  it  is  the 
whole  Church  at  Jerusalem  which  sends  Barnabas 
there,  to  acquaint  himself  with  their  affairs.  When 
that  important  question  presents  itself  about  the 
circumcision  of  the  Gentiles,  Paul,  Barnabas,  and 
other  brethren,  are  sent  to  Jerusalem  to  have  the 
question  decided.  ...  In  the  debate,  there  was 
much  speaking,  pro  and  con,  before  Peter  and  James 
had  expressed  their  opinions.  The  discourse  of 
Peter,  and  the  narrative  of  Paul,  settle  the  question. 
The  proposal  of  James  brings  it  to  a  conclusive 
result.  But  who  passed  the  final  decree  ?  Their 
document  plainly  indicates :  '  The  Apostles,  and 
Elders,  and  Brethren — so  runs  the  Encyclicial 
letter — '  send  greeting  unto  the  Brethren  who  are  of 
the  Gentiles  in  Antioch,  and  Syria,  and  Cilicia,'  &c. 
(Acts  XV.  23.)  ...  If  we  consider  attentively  the 
facts  presented,  we  cannot  but  conclude,  that  an 
organization  which  flows  naturally  from  a  true  con- 
ception of  the  Church,  as  a  body,  composed  of 
active  members,  workinrf  together  for  the  common 
life,  has  numerous  historical  precedents,  and   that, 


288  THE   LAITY   AS   A 

too,  in  the  fairest  days  of  the  Christian  faith.  From 
this  we  infer,  that  it  is  at  all  times  Christian  and 
Catholic  to  give  to  its  administration  a  form,  hy 
which  all  the  living  powers  of  a  given  ecclesiastical 
circumference  may  be  harmonized,  and  so  developed 
and  diffused  in  operations  full  of  blessings.  If  it  be 
objected,  that  this  organization  of  the  Church,  as  it 
existed  in  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  disappeared 
with  the  forms  of  early  faith,  and  subsequently  took 
a  shape  more  appropriate  to  the  ages  through  which 
it  was  obliged  to  pass,  it  must  indeed  be  admitted, 
that  such  transformations  took  place.  The  clergy 
and  laity  lost  their  share  in  the  management  of 
Church  affairs,  and  that  chiefly  through  their  own 
deterioration,  owing  to  their  intellectual  and  moral 
incapacity,  their  want  of  Church  spirit,  by  their 
appetite  for  quarrels  and  discussions,  by  the  self- 
seeking  disturbances  and  hindrances  to  which  the 
government  of  the  Church  was  subjected.  But  it  is 
none  the  less  true,  that  the  present  position  of  the 
Church,  and  its  immediate  necessities,  imperatively 
reclaim  a  rallying  of  all  its  existing  powers,  and 
consequently  a  recurrence  to  the  times  in  which  this 
conjunction  of  forces,  this  union  of  Bishop,  Priest, 
and  Layman,  for  the  common  benefit,  was  practically 
carried  out.  Such  a  union,  such  a  cooperation  of 
clergy  and  people,  is  a  very  decidedly  expressed 
demand  of  our  contemporaries,  and  is  as  earnestly 
anticipated.  The  same  spirit  Avhich  manifests  itself 
in  political  matters,  works  also  in  the  Church.  In 
the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  men  will  have  their 
parts  in  public  interests  of  grave  importance  to  them- 


CO-ORDINATE   POWER    OF   THE    CHURCH.        289 

selves.  The  constitutional  and  democratic  principle 
has  penetrated  the  nations,  and  every  where,  if  the 
Republic  does  not  already  exist,  the  monarchy  at 
least  takes  the  constitutional  form.  Pure  monarchy 
has  become  an  impossibility.  It  is  equally  true  in 
the  Church.  The  purely  monarchical  government 
of  a  diocese,  for  example,  runs  in  a  direction  so 
opposite  to  all  the  characteristics  of  the  age,  that 
such  a  thing,  or  at  least  its  perpetuation,  side  by 
side  with  the  constitutional  and  popular  vitality  of 
the  State,  appears  possible  in  no  other  way,  than 
by  the  apostacy  of  the  entire  intelligence  of  the 
community,  or  by  the  prevalence  of  a  religious 
indifference  the  most  complete.  The  revival  of 
Synodical  institutions,  so  long  demanded,  is  no- 
thing else  than  a  product  of  the  universal  spirit  of 
the  age.  ...  It  only  remains  to  give  to  Synods, 
and  especially  to  Diocesan  Synods,  such  an  organi- 
zation, that,  as  in  primitive  times.  Clergy  and  Laity 
may  take  a  substantial  part  in  the  concerns  of  the 
diocese  ;  and  that  all  the  prominent  intelligence, 
worth,  and  influence  of  the  community  at  large,  may 
be  brought  out  and  set  in  motion,  for  the  benefit  of 
all.  .  .  .  No  one  interests  himself  in  a  matter  in 
which  he  can  take  no  real  part.  It  is  only  in  view 
of  his  responsibility  and  importance,  that  a  man 
concerns  himself  in  any  thing  with  earnestness  and 
with  relish.  What  we  want  is,  this  revival,  this 
exertion  of  all  the  existing  powers  of  the  Church, 
and  their  effective  composition  for  that  purpose  ;  nor 
will  any  evil  come  of  commotion  and  agitation  about 
it." 

25 


290  A   SECOND    LUTHEK. 

And  this  (the  above,)  from  a  priest  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  and  a  Professor  in  one  of  her  Universities, 
published  in  1849  !  And  is  Germany  to  have — has 
she  ah'eadj — another  Luther  ?  Pity,  that  John 
Baptist  Von  Hirscher  shoukl  now  be  in  his  66th 
year.  The  scope  of  his  principles  must  necessarily 
lead  to  a  renunciation  of  Papal  authority.  Imme- 
diately on  the  publication  of  this  work,  he  was 
assailed  on  all  sides  by  the  Papists,  accused  of 
Jansenism,  and  of  the  purpose  of  setting  up  a 
national  German  Church.  The  book  was  put  into 
the  "  Index  "  by  the  Sacred  Congregation  at  Rome. 
His  translator  says:  —  "He  has  produced  many 
works,  but  his  reputation  rests  chiefly  on  his  Chris- 
tian Ethics,  which  has  given  him  an  enviable  repu- 
tation throughout  Germany,  as  the  Fenelon  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century.  " 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    MISSION  OF    THE    AMERICAN    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 

Ix  the  progress  of  this  -work,  we  have  necessarily 
been  obliged  to  keep  more  or  less  in  view,  and  in 
sundry  aspects,  the  great  topic  announced  at  the 
head  of  this  chapter ;  and  it  was  not  inconsistent  with 
our  main  design.  It  was  scarcely  possible  to  write 
a  chapter  without  having  something  to  do  with  it. 
The  genius  and  mission  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  are  so  blended,  that  in  treating  of  one,  we 
find  ourselves  not  only  by  the  side  of  the  other, 
but  often  at  its  very  heart.  Nevertheless,  there  are 
details  in  the  mission  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church,  which  will  occupy  a  separate  chapter  of  con- 
siderable interest  and  importance. 

In  the  first  place,  as  Christians,  we  recognize  a 
providential  government  of  the  world,  with  the  main 
design  of  redeeming  human  society  from  its  vices,  by 
means  of  Christianity  ;  and  the  Christian  scheme, 
though  under  diiferent  names,  runs  back,  not  only 
to  Abraham,  but  to  Adam.  In  the  second  chapter, 
we  have  given  some  reasons  why  this  work  of  re- 
demption, as  a  system  of  means,  must  be  slow  in  its 
progress,  or  what  to  man  will  appear  so.  From  this 
more  enlarged  view,  we  desire  to  call  attention  to 
the  great  fact — a  very  comprehensive  one — of  the 
discovery  and  settlement  of  the  American  Continent 

(291) 


292  -THE    MISSION    OF   THE 

by  Christians.  Next,  to  the  fact — also  comprehen- 
sive— of  the  rescue  of  the  most  enlightened  portion  of 
the  Continent  from  European  domination,  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  American  independence  ;  and  thirdly, 
to  the  fact  of  the  organization  of  the  American  Epis- 
copal Church,  as  given  in  a  former  chapter  of  this 
work,  together  with  its  subsequent  rise  and  extension, 
down  to  this  time.  In  this  last  fact  is  seen  a  new 
and  independent  column  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
under  the  Protestant  banner. 

We  desire  also  to  call  attention  to  the  fact,  that 
the  greatest  statesmen  and  philosophers  of  some  ages 
past,  have  prognosticated  a  new  era  of  Christian  civ- 
ilization, as  the  result  of  this  great  movement ;  and 
it  hardly  need  be  said,  that  this  era  has  already 
opened,  and  is  now  in  the  full  tide  of  hopeful  pro- 
gress. It  is  a  new  start  of  humanity,  under  new 
forms,  with  new  impulses,  new  motives,  new  pros- 
pects, and  a  wide,  vast  field,  which,  even  at  this  early 
period,  presents  a  vista  of  the  future,  of  absorbing 
interest,  and  of  great  attraction.  From  the  decayed 
and  decaying  societies  of  the  old  world,  with  all  the 
causes  of  decay  shaken  from  its  shoulders  and 
plucked  from  its  heart,  a  new  state  of  society  has 
appeared  upon  the  stage  of  this  western  hemisphere, 
and  is  now  in  full  career  of  successful  experiment. 
Every  year  opens  before  it  some  new  and  more 
attractive  features  of  its  destiny.  Every  year  ex- 
pands the  vision  of  the  future.  Already  it  is  no 
more  East ;  it  is  all  West.  The  most  populous  re- 
gions of  the  globe  are  now  in  the  West,  and  near  to 
us.     But  a  little  while  ago  they  were  in  the  East, 


AMERICAN    EPISCOPAL    CHUIICII.  293 

and  far  off.  Far  and  near  now  are  not  measured  bj 
geographical  lines,  but  by  facility  of  commercial  and 
social  intercourse.  The  great  Pacific,  its  islands 
and  its  shores,  are  now  in  our  neighborhood,  and  Asia 
is  at  our  doors — all  in  the  West. 

To  every  other  column  of  Protestantism,  on  this 
Continent,  we  say,  "  God  speed."  It  can  only  help 
the  American  Episcopal  Church,  whose  mission,  under 
Providence,  in  this  great  field,  Ave  have  now  to  consider. 

And,  first,  we  have  to  remark,  that  the  American 
Episcopal  Church  is  an  acknowledged  branch  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  holding  to  the  Catholic  creeds 
and  usages,  under  the  Protestant  denomination,  with 
an  Episcopate  at  her  head,  of  well  established  descent 
from  the  Apostles.  We  are  not  aware,  that  any  of 
the  other  Protestant  denominations  of  the  country 
assert  the  claim  of  Catholicity ;  and  only  two  of 
them,  we  believe,  exist  under  a  nominal  Episcopacy, 
one  of  which,  the  Wesleyans,  obtained  it  from  presby- 
terial  hands.  We  should  be  willing,  certainly,  to 
state  the  claims  of  all,  if  we  knew  precisely  what 
they  are.  For  the  most  part,  we  believe,  they  are 
not  desirous  of  being  called  Catholic,  and  they  are 
generally  contented  with  a  history  in  which  is  traced 
a  connexion  with  the  Protestant  Reformation  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  Some — and  this  class  is  very 
numerous — who  hold  to  the  principle  of  lay  ordina- 
tion, have  no  interest  in  the  teachings  of  antiquity, 
so  far  as  their  ministry  is  concerned.  But  the  Amer- 
ican Episcopal  Church  not  only  claims  to  be  Catho- 
lic, but  she  believes  in  the  Apostolic  succession  of 
her  Episcopacy.  Both  these  principles  with  her  are 
25* 


294  THE   MISSION   OF   THE 

vital.  On  tliat  of  Episcopacy,  we  need  not  enlarge, 
as  it  is  well  understood.  Catholicity,  perhaps,  is  not 
so  well  understood  ;  and  here  we  have  only  room  to 
say,  that  along  with  Episcopac}^,  it  implies  in  the 
first  place,  a  holding  of  the  Catholic  creeds,  as  handed 
down  from  the  primitive  ages,  and  verified  by  histor- 
ical sequence.  The  Catholic  creeds  suppose,  that 
certain  errors  preceded  them.  Else  there  was  no 
need  of  them.  And  when  we  find  those  errors  and 
the  creeds  in  history,  as  correlatives,  both  are  verified 
as  facts  ;  and  if  the  creeds,  with  such  an  origin,  have 
a  reasonable  foundation  in  the  Bible,  as  determined 
by  its  explicit  and  implicit  statements,  they  are  not 
only  credible,  but  well  established  as  the  belief  of 
the  primitive  ages.  Besides  the  Catholic  creeds, 
there  are  certain  Catholic  usages,  implied  in  a  Cath- 
olic Church,  verified  as  above,  as  descending  from 
the  primitive  times,  among  the  chief  of  which  are 
liturgical  forms  of  public  worship.* 

*  The  leading  and  prominent  characteristics  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  in  addition  to  the  Apostles'  Creed,  we  believe,  are  gene- 
rally held  to  be  those  which  were  put  forward  and  affirmed,  con- 
secutively and  harmoniously,  by  the  six  (Ecumenical  Councils  of 
Nice,  in  the  year  325  ;  of  Constantinople,  in  381  ;  of  Epliesus,  in 
431 ;  of  Chalcedon,  in  451  ;  and  of  the  second  and  third  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  553  and  680.  To  these  may  be  added,  as  of  con- 
current and  generally  received  authority,  the  acts  of  the  provin- 
cial Councils,  of  Ancyi'a,  in  the  year  315  ;  of  Neocaesarea,  in  the 
same  or  next  year;  of  Gangra,  about 330 ;  of  Antioch,  in  341 ;  and 
of  Laodioea,  in  or  about  365.  The  Apostolical  canons,  so  called, 
are  allowed  to  be  of  the  greatest  antiquity,  and  are  supposed  to 
have  had  their  origin,  some  from  the  Apostles  by  tradition,  and 
others  in  the  latter  part  of  the  second,  and  in  the  former  part  of 
the  third  century,  by  the  action  of  difl'erent  synods. — Ilaminond. 

The  Creeds,  and  the  Canons,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  faith,  of 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH.  295 

We  have  not  space  to  be  more  particular,  and  we 
have  no  purpose  of  making  an  historical  argument. 
We  have  only  wished  to  state  in  substance,  Avhat,  as 
we  suppose,  constitutes  a  Catholic  Church,  and  to 
show  the  position  which  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  occupies  in  this  view.  We  suppose  her  claim 
to  an  Apostolic  ministry  is  unquestionable,  and  that 
of  a  Catholic  Church  equally  good ;  both  of  which 
are  important  considerations  for  the  purpose  we  now 
have  in  view.  We  are  not  aware,  that  any  other 
Protestant  denomination  in  the  United  States,  has 
these  attributes  in  full  development,  or  any  that  is 
particularly  desirous  of  claiming  them.  AVe  con- 
clude, therefore,  that  the  American  Episcopal  Church 
stands  alone  on  this  ground,  and  alone  occupies  this 
field,  as  a  Catholic  Church,  under  the  Protestant 
name. 

We  remark,  then,  first,  that  one  important  part 
of  the  mission  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church, 
in  the  American  Protestant  world,  is  to  preserve  the 
integrity    and  soundness   of  the    Catholic    faith,  as 

the  above  named  authorities,  together  with  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
are  generally  claimed  to  constitute  the  faith  of  the  Church  Catho- 
lic, chiefly  as  it  relates  to  the  natui'e  and  character  of  Christ,  and 
to  the  nature  and  character  of  man,  in  distinction  from,  and  in 
opposition  to,  the  heresies  which  had  sprung  up  in  those  early 
ages.  Of  course,  the  Catholic  faith  proper,  thus  derived,  is  not 
fully  comprehensive  of  the  entire  range  of  Christian  belief.  But 
the  points  specified  in  these  documents,  have  ever  been  regarded 
as  vital  and  fundamental,  and  essential  to  the  existence  of  a  Ca- 
tholic Church.  They  involve  questions,  which  are  springing  up 
in  all  ages,  in  one  form  or  another  ;  and  therefore,  a  permanent 
and  orthodox  settlement  of  these  questions  for  all  time,  is  pro- 
perly denominated  a  Catholic  Faith. 


296  THE   MISSION    OF   THE 

handed  down  from  the  primitive  ages.  It  cannot  but 
be  seen,  that  a  faith  announced  in  full,  as  to  all  its 
leading  and  fundamental  articles,  in  the  daily  service 
of  a  Church,  occupies  a  very  different  position  from 
a  faith  published  in  certain  standards,  and  occa- 
sionally taught  in  catechisms,  aside  from  the  services 
of  the  Church.  The  impressions  of  catechetical 
instruction  in  childhood,  though  of  great  value, 
when  followed  up  by  liturgical  inculcation  of  "line 
upon  line,  precept  upon  precept,  here  a  little  and 
there  a  little,"  every  day,  are  nevertheless  evanes- 
cent, when  not  so  reiterated,  as  all  experience 
certifies.  Who,  that  could  repeat  every  word  of  the 
Westminster  Catechism  in  childhood,  retains  any 
considerable  portion  of  it  in  riper  years,  under  the 
old  system  of  New  England  teaching  ?  The  obvious 
result  of  that  mode,  has  led  to  its  almost  entire 
abandonment,  and  the  substitution  of  shorter  Sunday 
School  and  other  catechisms,  ordinarily,  we  believe, 
having  no  other,  and  no  higher  authority  than  that 
of  the  individual  authors  !  Think  of  the  Catholic 
faith  of  Christianity,  subjected  to  such  a  system  ! 
How  soon  will  it  be  changed !  How  greatly  has 
it  already  been  changed  !  Every  Congregational 
Church,  so  called,  in  the  country,  has  its  own  arti- 
cles of  faith,  seldom  copies  of  each  other,  but  a 
copy  of  the  views  of  the  minister  who  may  have 
given  it  to  them.  This  is  never  read  in  public, 
except  when  a  person  is  admitted  to  full  communion, 
and  will  naturally  soon  be  forgotten  by  all.  The 
Presbyterian  societies,  we  believe,  are  generally 
under  the  same  system,  though  they  have  a  public 


AMERICAN    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH.  297 

standard,  ■which  every  member  may  have,  if  he 
chooses,  but  which,  as  we  apprehend,  and  according 
to  our  observation  in  former  years,  is  seldom  read. 
We  are  not  so  well  acquainted  with  the  habits  of 
other  Protestant  denominations  of  the  country ;  but 
rarely,  if  ever,  are  a  creed  and  the  main  points  of 
faith,  incorporated  with  the  forms  of  public  worship. 
And  what  has  been  the  consequence  ? 

In  the  first  place,  Unitarianism  had  become  exten- 
sively established  in  the  country,  before  any  attempt 
at  a  remedy  was  made  ;  and  those  attempts  were  no 
farther  effective  than,  perhaps,  in  some  degree  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  heresy.  For  it  was 
established;  and  ages  may  roll  away,  before  the 
true  Catholic  faith  can  by  any  means  supersede  it. 
It  is,  to  a  great  extent,  a  popular  and  diffusive  lea- 
ven in  the  religion  of  the  country.  Next,  from  this 
controversy,  resulted  the  necessity  or  desire  for  some 
modifications  in  the  orthodox  faith  so  called,  in  dis- 
tinction from  Unitarianism  ;  in  order,  apparently,  to 
adapt  it,  in  some  degree,  to  the  style  of  reasoning 
Avhich  Unitarianism  had  introduced.  Hence  the  new 
school  of  Divinity  in  New  England,  which  first  took 
hold  of  the  nature  of  man,  and  made  a  new  thing  of 
it,  as  compared  with  the  previous  and  orthodox 
faith;  and  later,  as  an  offshoot  from  this,  appar- 
ently, a  bold  approach  has  been  made  to  the  nature 
of  tiie  Deity,  and  the  Son  of  God  is  thought  to  be 
essentially  lowered  in  his  character.  We  desire  not 
to  stand  as  umpire  between  the  parties  in  these 
debates.  We  only  allude  to  the  facts.  There  has 
been  a  change.     New  phases  of  Christian  theology 


298  THE   MISSION   OF   THE 

have  appeared.  Even  Andover  is  alleged  to  be 
Buspect.  The  new  theology,  so  called,  made  its  way 
into  the  Presbyterian  ranks,  in  the  middle  and 
southern  States,  and  some  twenty  years  ago,  rent 
asunder  their  General  Assembly  into  two  nearly 
equal  parts,  one  called  "  Old  School,"  and  the  other 
"New  School,"  occupying  the  same  ground,  and 
subsisting  under  the  same  ecclesiastical  forms,  but 
irreconcilably  opposed  to  each  other,  and  both  claim- 
ing to  be  the  true  Presbyterian  Church.  Here, 
again,  we  are  only  stating  facts,  without  claiming  to 
judge  between  the  parties.  Next  the  Wesleyan 
body  was  rent  in  twain,  the  Northern  part  going 
one  way,  and  the  Southern  another.  This  division, 
we  are  aware,  was  chiefly  eifected  by  the  slave  ques- 
tion ;  but  it  indicates  a  want  of  firmness  in  the 
original  compact.  Could  a  branch  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  bound  together  by  the  Catholic  creeds,  and 
Catholic  usages,  have  been  so  disturbed  ?  We  think 
not. 

The  above  recited  facts  are  signal,  and  of  great 
significancy,  as  to  the  matter  Ave  now  have  under 
consideration.  We  might  descend  to  minor  details 
of  controversy,  both  as  to  doctrine  and  discipline, 
which  have  overrun  the  religious  world,  in  the 
United  States,  within  the  last  half  century,  all 
resulting,  apparently,  from  the  want  of  authori- 
tative standards,  and  from  want  of  respect  to  the 
standards,  such  as  they  are.  For  the  most  part, 
these  standards  lie  on  the  shelves  of  private  libraries, 
and  seem  to  have  little  influence  in  forming  the  com- 
mon mind. 


AMERICAN    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  299 

Behold,  in  contrast  to  all  tliis,  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  and 
its  influence.  There  is  the  Avhole  Catholic  faith 
from  the  primitive  ages,  handed  down  unimpaired, 
■which  every  member  of  that  Church  carries  in  his 
hand,  when  he  goes  to  worship  ;  and  in  every  daily 
service  he  himself  goes  over  the  whole  ground  of 
that  faith,  and  takes  part  in  its  recitation.  The 
Catholic  faith  assumes  a  stereotype  character  in  his 
mind.  He  knows  no  other,  wants  no  other,  thinks 
of  no  other  ;  and  that  is  as  familiar'to  his  mind  as 
the  ABC  elements  of  a  child's  course  of  education 
are  to  him.  Bishops,  ministers,  and  people  have 
the  same  guide,  from  which  they  never  depart,  and 
never  think  of  departing.  And  there  is  no  contro- 
versy about  its  authority  and  correctness.-  Those 
who  choose  to  study  its  history,  will  find  that  it  is 
worthy  of  all  the  respect  that  is  entertained  for  it. 
Ages  may  roll  away  without  the  slightest  alteration  ; 
though  it  is  not  claimed  that  it  is  perfect  in  all  its 
orderings.  It  is,  however,  a  bond  of  union,  and 
guide  of  faith.  That  and  the  polity  of  the  Church 
constitute  a  harmonious  system  ;  one  of  the  functions 
of  the  latter  being  to  protect  the  former. 

Those  religious  bodies  of  the  country,  whose  faith 
corresponds  substantially  with  that  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church,  have  already  begun  to  see  and  to  ac- 
knowledge the  importance  of  the  place  which  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  occupies,  in  relation  to  the 
general  mind  ;  and  some  of  their  ministers  have  been 
heard  to  thank  God  for  it.  Comparatively  destitute 
of  controlling  standards,  and  none  of  them  occupying 


300  THE   MISSION   OF   THE 

a  like  advantageous  position  with  the  Prayer  Book, 
they  have  looked  with  dismay  at  the  exposures  to 
wreck  of  the  common  faith,  by  the  agitations  and 
convulsions  of  the  religious  Avorld,  and  by  the  bold- 
ness with  which  so  many  influential  theologians  and 
religionists  have  put  forAvard  new  doctrinal  theories, 
and  new  theories  of  society.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Lord, 
President  of  Dartmouth  College,  in  a  letter  to  Pro- 
fessor Park,  of  Andover,  deploring  these  departures 
from  the  faith  of  the  New  England  fathers,  says : — 
"  If  I  felt  I  had  no  friend  in  respect  to  the  views  I 
am  about  to  express,  I  should  not  choose  to  write, 
but  to  die.  .  .  .  Our  venerable  '  standing  order'  is 
broken  up  by  innumerable  greedy  and  licentious 
sects,  that  substitute  philanthropy  for  religion,  and 
reform  for  the  ordinances  of  God.  .  .  .  Such  unequi- 
vocal signs  exist,  that  a  great  change  is  coming  over 
New  England ;  and  not  of  New  England  alone,  but 
of  the  whole  country."  And  how  could  it  be  other- 
wise, where  there  is  no  anchor  of  the  Catholic  faith 
to  hold  fast  by  ?  Amidst  all  this  turbulence  of 
opinion,  of  all  these  modifications  of  theological  sys- 
tems, and  of  all  this  change  from  one  opinion  to 
another,  making  a  very  whirl  of  religious  agitation, 
there  stands  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  intact ;  the  same  from 
age  to  age ;  guiding  and  controlling  the  faith  of  the 
ministers  and  members  of  the  Church ;  read  every 
Sunday  in  all  the  Churches,  and  in  many  every  day ; 
examined  for  the  sake  of  knowing  what  it  is,  in  all 
its  parts  ;  accepted  as  known,  but  not  made  a  subject 
of  controversy ;   cherished  within   the   Church,  and 


AMERICAN    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH.  301 

commanding  tlie  respect  of  all  witliout.  Speaking 
of  tlie  public  generally,  nobody  sees  the  standards 
of  other  religious  bodies.  They  are  not  before  the 
public,  in  a  manner  to  command  attention,  and  to 
have  influence  on  the  general  mind — scarcely,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  have  much  influence  on  the  minds  of 
those  who  profess  to  believe  in  them.  But  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer  is  before  all  the  world,  is  seen, 
and  more  or  less  known,  by  all  the  world.  The 
Catholic  faith  therein  set  forth,  is  an  every  day 
lesson  of  all  who  attend  the  ministrations  of  the 
Episcopal  Church ;  and  it  goes  out  upon  the  public, 
so  that  most  people  cannot  fail  to  know  something 
of  what  it  is,  from  this  source. 

It  is  only  by  such  consideration  of  the  actual 
condition  of  other  religious  bodies,  of  the  religious 
state  of  the  country,  and  of  the  position  of  the  Ame- 
rican Episcopal  Church  in  relation  to  them  all,  with 
her  Book  of  Common  Prayer  in  her  hands,  accessible 
and  open  to  all,  and  more  or  less  known  to  all,  that 
the  importance  of  the  mission  of  this  Church,  in 
maintaininor  the  Catholic  faith,  under  a  Protestant 
ensign,  can  be  fully  appreciated.  She  was  as  nothing 
in  the  beginning,  doubting  of  her  own  ability  to 
stand  and  rise.  Then  she  had  little  influence  outside 
of  her  own  pale.  Now  she  is  eminent.  It  is  now 
her  ofiice  and  her  mission,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
as  a  Protestant  and  Catholic  Church,  to  hold  up  the 
Catholic  faith,  and  maintain  its  integrity,  in  this 
western  hemisphere.  If  she  does  not,  who  will? 
Certainly,  the  ability  to  do  it,  in  other  Protestant 
ranks,  has,  in  a  great  degree,  failed ;  and  in  many 
2(3 


302  THE   MISSION    OF   THE 

respectable  quarters,  it  is  acknowledged  to  be  beyond 
hope.  Some  of  their  articles  of  belief,  always  held 
by  the  Catholic  Church  as  fundamental,  have  already 
been  entirely  changed;  some  are  essentially  modi- 
fied; and  others  are.  presented  in  very  equivocal 
forms.  But  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  remains 
the  same — the  fast  anchor  of  the  Catholic  faith  of 
the  American  Protestant  world. 

Another  important  part  of  the  mission  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  is,  in  the  first  place,  to 
gather  within  her  pale,  those  loose,  but  very  worthy 
religious  elements,  which,  upon  reflection,  have  be- 
come dissatisfied  Avith  the  religious  bodies  to  which 
they  have  belonged,  and  desire  precisely  the  home 
which  the  Episcopal  Church  offers  to  them.  They 
have  not  desired  the  change  without  reflection,  or 
without  understanding  the  subject.  They  see  the 
beauty,  order,  and  salutary  discipline  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church  ;  and,  what  is  more,  they  have  discovered 
her  paramount  claims.  The  American  Episcopal 
Church  has  that  in  her  to  attract  their  attention, 
and  to  command  their  respect.  She  was  set  up  for 
scrutiny,  and  as  the  choice  of  such  minds.  It  would 
be  a  poor  recommendation  of  her,  if,  when  thoroughly 
examined  by  such  inquirers,  a  preference  should  not 
be  given  to  her ;  and  to  all  such  she  offers  the  home 
which  they  desire.     It  is  a  part  of  her  mission. 

In  the  next  place,  she  off"crs  a  refuge  to  that 
numerous  class  of  persons,  who  have  been  tossed  to 
and  fro  on  the  turbulent  sea  of  religious  agitation, 
and  who  have  become  tired  of  agitation.  They  are 
sincere,  and  begin  to  desire  a  quiet  religious  life, 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  303 

that  shall  be  a  protection  against  the  restless  turmoil 
to  ^vhich  they  have  been  subjected.  The  religious 
state  of  the  country  is  continually  producing  a  large 
class  of  such  candidates.  They  have  religion  in 
them,  and  that  is  Avhat  the  Church  wants.  It  only 
requires  the  chastening  influence  of  this  new  position, 
to  burn  quietl}',  to  shine,  and  to  bring  forth  fruit. 
It  is  a  part  of  the  mission  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  to  receive  them,  and  to  effect  this  transforma- 
tion of  religious  character.  From  the  above  two 
quarters,  some  of  the  largest  accessions  to  the  Epis- 
copal Church  are  constantly  being  made. 

In  the  third  place,  it  is  a  part  of  the  mission  of 
the  American  Episcopal  Church  to  go  out  and  seek 
after  the  lost,  who  have  never  belonged  to  any  fold, 
and  to  bring  them  in.  These  may  be  found  every 
where,  among  the  poor  and  among  the  rich.  The 
Church  is  a  missionary  body  by  her  original  consti- 
tution, and  can  never  be  excused  from  engaging  in 
missionary  enterprises,  at  home  and  abroad,  so  lo*hg 
as  any  of  the  lost  remain  unreclaimed.  The  mis- 
sionary spirit  of  Christianity  is,  in  its  very  essence, 
a  spirit  of  aggression  on  the  domain  of  the  prince  of 
darkness.  It  is  to  go  out  "  into  the  highways  and 
hedges,  and  compel  them  to  come  in ;"  it  is  to  visit 
the  hovels  of  wretchedness,  as  well  as  the  mansions 
of  the  rich ;  it  is,  in  a  word,  to  carry  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature. 

Again :  a  very  important  part  of  the  mission  of 
the  American  Episcopal  Church,  is  to  support  ai^ 
make  good  her  professed  character  of  Protestant,  in 
relation  to  the  claims  of  the  Church  of  Rome  on  this 


304  THE    MISSION    OF   THE 

Continent.  A  great  battle  against  Popery  is  yet  to 
be  fought  here,  and  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States  cannot  be  recreant  to  her  name 
and  to  her  God.  She  cannot  in  honor,  much  less  in 
duty,  shrink  from  the  position  and  attitude  she  ori- 
ginally assumed,  in  relation  to  the  great  Apostate 
and  Blasphemer,  "The  Mother  of  Harlots  and 
Abominations  of  the  Earth,"  at  the  sight  of 
whom,  considering  what  she  once  was  as  a  pure  vir- 
gin, and  what  she  had  become  by  prostitution,  the 
inspired  prophet  of  God  "  wondered  with  a  great  ad- 
miration. And  the  Angel  said  unto  me :  Wherefore 
didst  thou  marvel  ?     I  will  tell  thee  the  Mystery." 

The  last  hope  of  the  Church  of  Rome  is  turned  to 
the  American  Continent.  It  is  here  the  great  battle 
will  be  fought ;  and  there  is  only  one  form  of  Chris- 
tianity here,  only  one  branch  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
the  claims  of  which  she  will  be  forced  to  respect.  We 
say  not  this  in  derogation  of  other  Protestant  de- 
nominations ;  but  only  in  reference  to  the  fact,  that 
the  American  Episcopal  Church  is  the  only  Christian 
Commonwealth  on  this  Continent,  whose  pretensions 
will  be  recognized  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  having 
an  affinity  to  the  Church  of  the  primitive  ages.  This 
she  can  never  deny  with  effect  on  the  public  mind. 
The  Church  of  England  was  originally  independent 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  an  Apostolic  institution, 
and  an  equal ;  and  the  Protestant  Reformation  only 
brouglit  her  back,  so  far,  to  her  primitive  condition 
ajid  rights.  The  American  Revolution  consummated 
the  work  of  return  to  the  primitive  platform,  and  left 
the  American  branch  of  the  Catholic  Church  free  and 


AMERICAN   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH.  305 

independent.  The  history  of  her  descent  from  primi- 
tive times,  independent  of  Rome,  is  well  and  incontro- 
vertibly  established.  While  the  Chm'ch  of  Rome,  for 
many  centuries,  has  been  clothing  herself  with  the 
garments  of  the  Woman  of  the  Apocalypse,  and 
drinking  "the  wine  of  her  fornications,"  till  her 
prostitution  has  become  hopeless  of  all  reform,  Pro- 
vidence was  gradually  preparing  the  way  for  a  com- 
plete and  perfect  rescue  of  one  branch  of  the  Catholic 
Church  from  all  entanglements  Avith  the  institutions 
of  human  device,  and  from  all  connection  with  the 
political  fabrics  of  earth.  The  American  Episcopal 
Church  comes  at  last  upon  the  stage,  answering 
precisely  to  this  description.  She  is  ready  and  fully 
armed  for  the  high  destiny  that  awaits  her.  In 
the  forms  of  primitive  purity,  unincumbered  with  the 
rubbish  of  accumulated  corruption,  she  stands  forth 
armed  with  truth — the  truth  of  history  and  the  truth 
of  God — to  face,  like  David,  the  gigantic  form  of 
idolatry  and  heathenism,  which  has  been  profanely 
baptized  with  the  Christian  name.  She  is  challenged 
by  Providence  to  go  forth  into  the  field,  and  to  bring 
and  throw  down  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  the  trophies 
of  her  victory. 

Finally  :  The  most  interesting  and  most  important 
part  of  the  Mission  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church,  remains  to  be  seen  in  the  vast  field  of 
Christian  enterprise,  which  is  opened  by  the  ex- 
tended and  growing  empire  of  American  freedom 
and  American  institutions.  All  prophecy  of  the 
expansive  power  of  American  institutions  is  put  to 
the  blush,  and  the  book  is  laid  upon  the  shelf,  as 
26* 


806  MISSION  or  the  church. 

utterly  insufficient  to  describe  the  realities,  which 
crowd  on  the  vision  of  beholders.  In  a  few  short 
years,  now  gone  by,  the  heretofore  unexplored  re- 
gions of  the  heart,  and  of  the  Western  slope  of  this 
Continent,  have  begun  to  teem  with  the  movements 
and  activities  of  American  enterprise ;  and  from  our 
Pacific  border,  we  now  look  out  on  a  new  Western 
world  of  vast  interest  and  attraction,  in  the  waters 
and  islands  of  the  Pacific,  and  in  the  Eastern  nations 
of  Asia.  North  America  is  capable  of  sustaining 
some  hundreds  of  millions  of  people,  in  the  use  only 
of  the  present  arts  of  life.  But  the  arts  of  life  are 
improving  more  rapidly  than  the  increase  of  popula- 
tion on  the  globe.  What  a  prospect  is  this  for  the 
American  empire  !  And  that  same  empire  is  the 
future  Missionary  domain  of  the  American  Episcopal 
Church. 


THE   END. 


Stanford  and  Swords  s  Publications. 


WORKS 

OF  THE 

HEY.  CHARLES  B.  TAYLEE. 


Marlv  Wilton,  the  MercJmnt's  Olerh. 

Mr.  Tayler  has  -written  many  admirable  works,  but  none  better  cal- 
culated to  do  good  than  the  one  before  us.  In  the  character  of  Mark 
Wilton  -we  behold  the  young  man  of  weak  moral  piinciple,  easily 
seduced  iuto  temptation  and  sin;  bis  whole  Ufe  presenting  varying 
changes  from  evil  to  good,  from  sin  to  penitence ;  and  in  the  character 
of  his  fellow-clerk,  one  firm  in  Christian  principle,  and  proof  against 
the  f\\scinating  allurements  and  wholesale  temptations  of  the  world. 
It  should  be  read  by  eveiy  clerk  in  our  great  cities. 

Scenes  in  a  Clergyman's  Life. 

The  reputation  of  this  gi-eat  work  has  been  so  firmly  established, 
that  it  h;xs  ran  through  many  editions  both  in  England  and  America. 

Lady  Mary;  or,  Not  of  the  World. 

The  design  of  this  work  is  to  delineate  religious  character  as  pre- 
sented in  the  upper  walks  of  life  in  England. 

Margaret ;  or,  The  Pearl. 

"  Tlie  name  of  Margaret  has  two  meanings :  in  Greek,  it  is  a  pearl ; 
in  French,  it  is  the  most  modest  and  the  most  common  of  flowers,  the 
daisy,  springing  up  wherever  a  httle  patch  of  gi-eensward  refreshes 
the  gaze  with  its  soft  and  beautiful  colom-.  In  my  simple  stoiy  of 
'  Margaret,'  the  reader  may  find  me  employing  my  leisure  with  this 
flower,  endeavouring,  at  the  same  time,  to  keep  before  them  and  my- 
self, the  One  Pearl  of  great  price,  after  whom  I  have  purposely  named 
mv  Margaret." — Extract  from  Preface. 

May  You  Lihe  It. 

'  "  This  chai-ming  book  has  pa.ssed  through  six  editions  in  England, 
and  we  confidently  predict  its  welcome  reception  by  the  American 
pubhc." — Journal. 


Stanford  and  Swords' s  Publications. 


Tliaiikf illness : 

A    NARRATIVE     COMPRISING    PASSAGES    FROM    THE 
Diary  of  the  Rev.  Allau  Temple. 

This  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  work,  in  the  form  of  fictijn  convey- 
ing religious  lessons.  TTie  passages  in  the  hfe  of  the  young  clergy- 
man present  beautiful  pictures  of  the  trials  and  rcwai-ds  of  minist(?rial 
labours,  while  there  is  sufficient  of  a  tale  in  the  nan'ative  to  attract 
the  attention  of  any  reader.  The  author  has  already  won  a  high  i-cjv 
utiition  for  his  writings  of  this  kind,  and  the  present  work  will  add 
to  it 

Earnestness  / 

OR,  INCIDENTS  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  AN  ENGLISH  BISHOP. 

This  work,  although  intended  as  a  sequel  to  "  Thankfubiess."  has 

its  distinctive  character.     It  is  a  beautiful  exhibition  of  the  Episcopal 

character,  with  some  of  its  attending  difficulties  in  the  English  Church. 

Angels^  Song. 

This  is  the  eighth  of  these  exquisitely  conceived  and  imprcssi^•ely 
written  works  which,  emanating  from  the  pen  of  this  pure  and  charm- 
ing writer,  and  having  had  a  wide  and  useful  cii'culation  in  EtiL,'limd, 
the  enterprising  publishers,  at  137  Broadway,  have  produced  in  this 
country ;  an  act  for  which  they  have  received  the  warmest  tliank:?  of 
some  of  the  best  and  most  judicious  of  the  land.  Excellent  and  ad- 
mirable as  are  the  previous  volumes  of  Mi\  Tayler,  this  by  many  will 
be  preferred,  it  being  more  domestic  in  its  teaching  and  in  the  inciients 
which  form  its  charm  and  attraction.  It  is  most  beautifully  written, 
and  the  nan'ative  or  family  histoiy  one  that  cannot  fail  to  malie  a 
deep  impression  upon  the  reader.  "  The  Angels'  Song"  is  peculiarly 
fitted  to  cheer  and  animate  the  Christian ;  and  happy,  thrice  happy, 
the  man  who  can  say,  "  I  have  at  last  learned  '  The  Angels'  Song.' " 

Hecords  of  a  Good  ManHs  Life. 

"  Of  Mr.  Tayler's  work,  'Records  of  a  Good  Man's  Life,'  we  retain, 
after  a  lapse  of  many  years,  a  fresh  and  delightful  I'ecoUection. ' — 

Evercjrccn. 

Ohristmass  at  Old  Court :  a  Fire-side  Booh. 

"  The  perusal  of  this  work  has  afforded  us  gi'eat  pleasure.  It  can- 
not be  read  by  any  one  without  making  them  both  wiser  and  better." 
— Spectator. 


Stanford  and  Sufords's  Publications. 


SERMONS. 


Mdmll. 


SERMOXS    BY     HEXRY     MELVILL,    COMPRISING    ALL 

the  Discom-ses  published  by  consent  of  the  Author.     Edited  by  tlie 

Rt.  Rev.  Charles  P.  jrilvaiue,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  the  Prot.  Epis.  Church 

of  Ohio.     T\ro  large  octavo  volumes.    Ninth  Thousand.     §3.50. 

"  Melvill  is  no  ordinary  man.  and  produces  no  ordinary  influence.  Possessing 
a  brilliant  imagination,  having  a  jrreat  command  of  words,  and  bein?  full  of  the 
fire  of  genius,  he  sways  the  hearts  of  crowded  congi'egations  who  listen  to  the 
living  voice,  and  of  multitudes  who  peruse  the  productions  of  his  glowing 
pen.  It  is  impossible  to  re.ad  Melvill's  Sermons  and  not  be  gratifieil,  and, 
■what  is  better,  improved.  Tliere  is  so  much  of  the  earnestness  and  aftVctionate- 
ness  of  the  "  man  of  God,"  so  much  zeal  for  the  truth  as  it  is  in  -iRsrs,  so  great 
acutenes.«,  and  so  happy  a  faculty  of  illustrating  and  enforcing  Scriptural  truth, 
that  involuntarily  one  pays  the  highest  tribute  which  an  autiior  can  receive,  in 
forgetting  him  and  fastening  the  mind  upon  the  ennobling  subjects  of  his 
labours.  The  present  edition  is  especially  valuable,  since  here  we  have  the  dis- 
courses of  the  gifted  author  as  he  wrote  them  and  committed  them  to  the  press, 
and  the  publishers  liave  taken  pains  to  include  in  the  present  issue  botli  the 
parochial  sermons,  and  those  delivered  on  public  occasions  and  before  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cambridge ;  by  which  we  have  liere  the  contents  of  some  five  or  six 
volumes  of  the  English  edition,  at  a  price  which  brings  them  within  the  reach 
of  all.  The  mechanical  execution  is  in  the  publishers'  usual  style  of  excellence.'' 
— Miscellany. 

"  Melvill  has  for  some  years  been  with  the  reading  public  a  decided  favourite. 
"We  suppose  the  sermons  of  no  living  man  will  command  a  more  extensive  sale. 
All  who  read  him  are  charmed  with  his  beauty,  tenderness,  ciirnestness,  clo 
quence,  and  nice  discrimination  in  exposition." — Methodist  Protestant. 

"  His  sermons  are  from  his  text,  made  up  of  its  elements,  not  introducing  his 
subject,  but  suggesting  and  containing  it.  Therefore  they  are  always  a  faithful 
exjiosition  of  the  text.  The  present  edition  of  his  sermons  cannot  fail  to  have 
a  wide  and  justly  deserved  circulation." — Albany  Spectator. 

Manning. 

SERMONS     BY     HENRY     EDWARD     MANNING,    M.   A., 
Archdeacon  of  Chichester.     Three  large  octavo  volumes.     83.75. 

"  Apart  from  a  few  expressions  which  have  to  do  with  his  ovm  church  organ- 
ization, they  are  such  a-s  all  Christian.s  of  whatever  persuasion,  would  be  well 
satisfied  to  read;  and  not  only  satisfied  but  cdifled." — Intelligencer. 

"  Manning  possesses  a  mind  of  peculiar  richness  and  vigour,  clothed  upon 
■with  all  the  glorious  truths  of  our  holy  religion.  He  delineates  most  beautifully 
the  l.aw  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  .Tesus ;  and  is  always  most  eloquent  when 
nearest  to  the  Cro.ss.  Ilis  style,  peculiarly  his  own,  cannot  be  commended  to 
any  divine;  for,  apart  from  its  many  objection.ible  features,  it  could  not  be  suc- 
cessfully imitated :  but  the  expository  character  of  his  sermons  is  of  the  first 
order:  and  hero  M.inning  may  be  studied  with  the  greatest  advantage." — 
Spectator, 


Stanford  and  Swords's  Publications. 


Moore. 

SERMONS  BY  BENJAMIN  MOORE,  D.  D.,  LATE  BISHOP  OF 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Chuich  in  the  State  of  New  York.  2  vols. 
8vo.     $2.00. 

Paget^s 

SERMONS  ON  THE  DUTIES  OF  DAILY  LIFE.     12mo.     Sl.oO. 

Ives. 

"THE  OBEDIENCE  OF  FAITH."  SEVEN  SERMONS  DELIV- 
ered  on  his  Visitations  to  the  Churches  in  his  Diocese,  during  1848-9, 
by  Rt.  Rev.  L.  SiUiman  Ives,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of  North  Cai-olina. 


Beren-s. 


VILLAGE  SERMONS  ON  THE  CHIEF  ARTICLES  OF  FAITH, 
Ac,  on  the  Christian  Character,  and  on  some  of  the  Relative  Duties ; 
to  which  is  added,  Pastoral  Advice  to  Young  Men,  particularly  tliose  in 
country  villagea  In  Seven  Sermons.  By  the  Rev.  Edward  Bereus 
M.  A.     12mo.     75  cents. 


J3utle. 


T. 

OLD  TRUTHS  AND  NEW  ERRORS.  FOUR  SERMONS  BY 
Rev.  C.  M.  Butler,  D.D.,  Rector  of  Trinity  Chm-ch,  Wa.<hington, 
D.  C.     16mo.     50  cents. 


Beddl. 


A  PASTORAL  ADDRESS  SUBSEQUENT  TO  CONFIRMA- 
tion.  By  the  late  Rev.  G.  T.  Bedell,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  St.  Andrew's 
Church,  Philadelpliiix.  Edited,  with  additions,  by  liis  Sou,  Rev.  G. 
Thurston  Bedell,  Rector  of  tlie  Church  of  the  Ascension,  New  York. 
>   jeautiful  miniature  edition.     32mo.     31c. 

"Dr.  Bedell's  n.ime  is  too  well  known  to  require  any  commendation  at  our 
hands;  even  those  who  disagreed  with  him  in  some  theological  views  never 
doubted  his  deep  and  liearty  striving  to  win  souls  to  Christ,  nor  ever  were  un- 
impressed with  tlie  fact  of  iiis  being  in  earnest  in  what  he  said  and  did.  Tlie 
value  of  the  address  is  much  enlianced  by  the  additions  made  by  the  present 
Kector  of  the  Church  of  the  Ascension." — Yowng  Churchman^s  MixceUant/. 

"  P(ni  thy  Foics  is  a  pastoral  address  intended  for  tliose  who  have  recently 
gone  througji  the  .solemn  rite  of  Confirmation,  which  may  be  read  witli  advan- 
tage and  iustructiou." — Southern  Patriot. 


Stanford  and  Swordsh  Puhlications. 


Casileman. 

PLAIN  SERMONS  FOR  SERVANTS.  BY  REV.  T.  T. 
Ciistlenian,  Rector  of  Triuity  Church,  Stuuntxin,  Va.,  and  other  Minis- 
ters of  tJie  Episcopal  Church.  Written  and  published  by  request  of 
the  Rt.  Rev.  William  Meade,  D.  D.,  and  the  Convocation  of  Centi-al 
Virginia.     1  vol.  12mo.     §1.00. 

Horsley. 

SERMONS  BY  SAMUEL  HORSLEY,  LL.D.,  F.  R.  S.  F.A.S., 
late  Lord  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph.     1  vol.  8vo.     $1.50. 

Fox. 

TEN  SERMONS,  WITH  A  PREFATORY  LETTER  AD- 
dressed  to  the  Rt  Rev,  Bishop  M'llvaiiie,  by  Rev.  George  Townshend 
Fox,  M.  A.,  of  Durham.     1  vol.  8vo.     $  1 .00. 

fTackson. 

SERMONS  AND  LIFE  OF  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  JACKSO>f, 
late  Rector  of  St  Paul's  Chui-cb,  Louisville,  Ky.    1  vol  8vo.  $1.25. 

Hobart 

SERMONS  OF  THE  RT.  REV.  JOHN  HENRY  HOBART,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  with  a  Memoir  of  his  Life  by  the  Rev.  William  Berriaii,  D.D., 
Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York.      3  vols.  8vo.     |4.50. 

Oanningliam. 

SERMONS,  CHIEFLY  PRACTICAL,  BY  THE  REV.  J.  W. 
Cunningham,  A.  M.,  Vicar  of  Harrow.     1  vol.  8vo.     ?1.25. 

Plain  Sermons: 

BY  CONTRIBUTORS  TO  THE  "  TRACTS  FOR  THE  TIMES." 
2vols.l2mo.     $1.50. 

Diifie. 

SERMONS  BY  THE  LATE  REV.  C0RNT:LIUS  R.  DUFFIE, 
A.  M.,  Rector  of  St.  Thomas's  Chui-ch,  New  York,  with  a  memoir  of 
the  Author.     2  vols.  8vo.     ?3.00. 


Stanford  and  Swords's  Publications. 


FAMILY  AND  PRIVATE  DEVOTIONS. 


Andreives. 

THE  DEVOTIONS  OF  BISHOP  ANDREWES,  TRANSLATED 
fi'om  the  Greek,  and  airanged  anew.     18mo.     50  cents. 

The  forms  of  Devotions  in  tliis  work  not  beina:  fully  drawn  out,  bnt  given, 
as  lieafls  of  tliousrht,  and  as  it  were,  a  Brii-f  of  Praijer.  nre  singularly  sug- 
gestive in  their  nature,  and  thereby  best  adapted  for  general  use,  and  to  most 
variety  of  cases.  Their  language  being  ])rincii)al!y  drawn  from  Scripture,  is 
common  and  accejitable  to  all,  and  at  the  same  time,  deep,  rich,  and  universal, 
and  suitable  to  all  degrees  of  spiritual  attainment. 

Berrian. 

FAMILY  AND  PRIVATE  PRAYERS.  BY  THE  REV.  WM. 
Beiriau,  D. D.,  Rector  of  Trinity  Chiu'cli,  New  York.  12mo.  Large 
type.    %\.{:'\. 

In  this  largo  and  well-executed  volume,  Dr.  Berrian  has  furnished  all  who 
love  the  T.iturgy  and  the  spirit  of  the  Pnayer  Book,  with  a  most  valuable  man- 
n.il ;  valuable  alike  for  its  freedom  from  .ill  irreverent  and  unseemly  fuiiiliarity 
of  approach  to  the  throne  of  grace,  and  for  its  deep  and  glowing  fervour  of 
devotion  to  God.  The  edition  has  been  newly  arranged  and  materially  enlarged. 
Part  of  the  additions  which  have  been  made  to  it  consist  of  ancient  litanies,  pu- 
rified from  all  taint  of  superstition  and  error,  and  presenting  a  perfect  embodi- 
ment of  Christian  truth  expressed  in  the  most  fervent  strain  of  devotion. 

DEVOTIONS  FOR  THE  SICK  ROOM,  AND  FOR  TIMES  OF 
Trouble,  compiled  from  Ancient  Liturgies  and  the  Writings  of  Holy- 
Men.  From  the  London  Edition,  with  alterations  and  adtlitions.  By 
the  Rev.  "William  Ben-ian,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York. 
12mo.     50  cents. 

The  want  of  a  full  and  appropriate  manual  of  devotion,  adapted  to  the  pecu- 
Ihir  necessities,  the  changins  circumstances,  and  diversified  st.nte  and  cl-aracter 
of  all  who  are  in  trouble  or  distrcs.s,  has  been  often  felt  by  tlie  clergy,  in  their 
visitation  of  the  sick  and  afflicted,  and  still  more  by  the  sufferers  themselves. 
This  want  h.as  now  been  fully  supplied  by  Dr.  Berrian.  in  the  present  volume, 
who.  in  order  to  give  the  manual,  of  which  this  is  a  rejirint.  a  fuller  adaptation 
to  tlie  wants  of  those  feu-  wliom  it  is  more  especially  designed,  has  pruned  it  ol 
its  redundancies,  and  added  to  it  all  the  Prayers  for  the  sick  and  afllicted  which, 
in  tlie  course  of  his  long  ministry,  and  consequent  gi-eat  experience,  he  had 
been  led  to  prepare,  on  various  occasions,  for  cases  of  sorrow  and  trouble  as 
they  successively  occurred. 


n. 


/ 


'I'lMlniM,".'.",',?'.';.''.'  Sfm,nar,-Sp«,  L,6, 


1  1 


012  01123   1703 


